What A Few Heroes Can Do
by The Name
Summary: Chapter 7's UP! Can they save the emperor from Dong Zhou's disgusting hands! Please enjoy! AND PLZ R&R!
1. The Time of Chaos

To Readers: Hey, this is my first DW fanfic, so please R&R!!! Uh. . . I'm not from the US, so I didn't play the American version. I kinda can get the hang of it, but I might get some of the English names wrong, so. . . if I make those mistakes, I'm really sorry and please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks! R&R  
  
What A Few Heroes Can Do  
  
Chapter 1: The Time of Chaos  
  
In the year 184, 5 years before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, there was a 10- year old boy living in the area of Sang-San, located in the northern parts of China. He often heard from his parents and townspeople that the Han was dying and there would be a war. "Dammit. Those idiots that work under the king don't know anything else other than money. By the way they're going, this whole countries going down!"  
  
Zhao Yun turned to look at the man who said that. Many people started to gather around and talk about it.  
  
"Why don't we just get a lot of men together and just destroy the Han?"  
  
"You mean, betray our country?"  
  
"You call this a country? Taxes are getting higher and we're barely making a living here. A few more years and nobody will be left in Han."  
  
"Well, let's just wait around and see. We need a leader that'll lead us to freedom. We'll just have to wait until more people start to share our thoughts."  
  
After they talked for a little while, the crowd broke up and went to different directions. Zhao Yun thought about what those men had said. They needed a leader. Maybe it was just he, but Zhao Yun suddenly had the urge to become a leader and lead the people to a new world.  
  
"Hey, Zhao Yun!"  
  
His friend, Sun Ce came along. Sun Ce was actually from the land of Wu, but Jiang Dong's Tiger, Sun Jian, sent him to Sang-San. Sun Ce also had a great interest in fighting as well. His father decided to send him to Mount Sang, where a wise man by the name of Jwa Jwa lived. Zhao Yun decided to go with Sun Ce.  
  
"Hey, Sun Ce! Ready?"  
  
"Ready when you are!"  
  
The two 10-year olds ran up the mountain as fast as they could. They ran for nearly an hour, but there was no end to the big mountain. Finally, they got to a plateau and they could feel this weird aura around the plateau. Sensing danger, Zhou Yun yelled, "Look out!"  
  
Sun Ce looked up and dodged just in time as a number of big boulders fell down and made a gigantic pile on the spot Sun Ce had been.  
  
"I have a feeling that somebody's not welcoming us."  
  
Zhou Yun walked a little farther to see a small house and an old man with a long and white hair.  
  
"Fools who don't know what's for your own good! You little kids should be helping your parents! I won't allow any trespassers!"  
  
The old man sent a few fireballs at them and Zhou Yun was so surprised at the fireballs, that he just stared at it coming to him until Sun Ce pushed him away. Then gathering courage, Sun Ce yelled, "We're no trespassers! My name is Sun Ce, son of Sun Jian, Jiang Dong's Tiger! I have come with my friend Zhou Yun to learn the ways of fighting! We will use our power to get rid of this chaos!"  
  
The old man just looked at them, and Zhou Yun knew that he didn't believe in them.  
  
"You kids may talk big, but you don't what it's like fighting. I also had the same idea as you when I was a youngster, but I just wish that I had never known. Just live a peaceful life, marry, have kids, and wait for the chaos to be over."  
  
Zhao Yun wanted to say how he felt, so he just went up to Jwa Jwa and said, "You might think that way, but we're ready to sacrifice ourselves for the future. Every men that fights for righteousness can make millions of people live better in the future. I know Sun Ce and I can change the future! Please, teach us!"  
  
Zhao Yun was on his knees in front of Jwa Jwa and Sun Ce, noticing what he had to do followed Zhao Yun and did the same.  
  
Jwa Jwa stayed quiet and just said, "Are you ready?"  
  
  
  
Zhao Yun and Sun Ce had been here for a month now. They were to stay here for many years, learning with weapons as well as books. They were a little lonely to see their family from time to time, but they had come here to do what they had come to do. Zhao Yun got up at 5 in the morning with Sun Ce. They washed, ate and got ready until 6. Then they waited in front of the house meditating until Jwa Jwa came out at 7. Then they just trained without any weapons, just with fists and foot. They did this, because they wouldn't know when they'd have to fight without their weapons. They practiced until noon and ate lunch until 1. Then it was archery time for 2 hours. By 3, they practiced with their swords and spears until 7. After eating dinner until 8, they studied about war, strategies, and politics as well. They did it until midnight and then they went to sleep by 1. It was a tight schedule. Zhao Yun fainted on to his pillow and blanket after another hard day.  
  
  
  
5 years had passed. It was Zhao Yun and Sun Ce's birthday. They woke up at 5'o clock sharp. It was easy to do now, since it had been their 5th year training. They could meditate without opening their eyes until 7 in the morning. They now probably had the skills to take on 20 soldiers without using a weapon. Zhao Yun could shoot arrows from a distance of 100 feet away and hit a target 90 out of 100 times. Sun Ce could only do 80, though. Zhao Yun wasn't very comfortable with a sword, so he used a long spear he was comfortable with. Sun Ce, meanwhile used a pair of sticks (what do they call this?) that could hurt. At night, they memorized thousands of books from front to back. Zhao Yun felt good and felt a lot stronger now that he was 15 years old. He had finished his studying and went to Jwa Jwa to bid him good night.  
  
"Teacher Jwa Jwa?"  
  
"Oh, Zhao Yun. Come in."  
  
"Uh. . . Yes, sir."  
  
Zhao Yun went inside Jwa Jwa's personal room, a place he had never entered for 5 years. (Sun Ce could've gone in once or twice without anyone knowing) It was a small room filled with excellent weapons and armor and there were famous books from all over China as well.  
  
"Zhao Yun, you and Sun Ce's skills have reached its height. You can't learn much else in this mountain anymore. I think it's time you've gone back down. Do not say anything. Here are two suits of armor, one's red for Sun Ce and yours is silver. Here's a good bow and arrows for each of you and a horse for you two will be at the stable. They're not good, but they'll be fine until you get another horse."  
  
"Thank you, teacher."  
  
"Don't mention it. Don't be surprised if I'm not here tomorrow. Now that I've trained you and Sun Ce, I'm going to travel around Han once more. We might meet again, someday. . ."  
  
Zhao Yun quietly took the armor and arrows and left. The next morning, Jwa Jwa wasn't there when Sun Ce and Zhao Yun went to his room. So they went to the stable, where there were two horses waiting for them. With their new armor, weapons, and helmet, they looked back at the place that had been their home for 5 years.  
  
Sun Ce, looking at Zhao Yun stare through the little house said, "Well, I guess we got a long way to go, huh?"  
  
"Yeah. . ."  
  
"Alright! Let's go!"  
  
Zhao Yun reluctantly followed Sun Ce down the mountain, but he looked back at the little house until it disappeared from view. That was just the beginning of Zhao Yun's journey.  
  
Hey!!! Sorry about the first chapter. There just wasn't much to say from the beginning, but I promise long, full chapters next time! Please R&R!!! 


	2. Rose of Sharon

Hey! Thanks to DarkmoonFlute for a review and helping me out with some problems! Thanks and I'd be grateful if you continued reading my fanfic!!! Well, once again please enjoy and plz R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Chapter 2:  
  
It took Zhao Yun and Sun Ce a few hours to go down the mountain on horseback. They talked happily as their new armor shined in the sun. Then they saw the direction to where their village was.  
  
Zhao Yun smiled and said, "There's no place like home."  
  
Sun Ce grinned. "Right on!"  
  
Then Zhao Yun looked a little closer and saw something strange.  
  
"Why is their smoke coming out of the village?"  
  
"I dunno. Maybe they're making a bonfire or something."  
  
"No, something's wrong. Something's definitely wrong."  
  
Zhao Yun rode his horse to the village and when he entered, he was shocked and disgusted at the same time. There were dead bodies everywhere and he noticed some of the faces as his neighbors when he was young. However, there were other faces that were in such engrossing shape that Zhou Yun couldn't recognize them. There were burnt down buildings everywhere. The fire was gone, but the remaining smoke told them that it hadn't been long since the fire was set. He couldn't believe who would set fire to his village. Sun Ce face looked as if he was shocked as well. As they rode in, survivors screamed and ran into different directions. It took them a long time until they noticed they weren't being attacked. It took them longer to figure out that the man riding the horse was Zhao Yun and Sun Ce.  
  
Zhao Yun was someone you could a handsome man, and he had a kind of a strange maturity on his face, which made him more handsome. Sun Ce still had some of his kid face, but there was no doubt that he was a man now. He was even a little bigger than Zhao Yun. As they looked around, about half the villagers had died and out of the other half, most of them were injured and there were only a few that were in fine shape. Also, some of the women and girls had been taken as prisoners.  
  
"So, who were the ones that attacked our village?"  
  
"The Yellow Turbans. It looked as if they needed some food and weapons for battle. They wiped out the food storage and the blacksmith. They're still near this area. I think they're camping for a battle. Since Sang-San is an area between two castles. One belongs to the Han and the other belongs to the Yellow Turbans. So, I guess we're in a pretty tough spot."  
  
Sun Ce suddenly got mad and tried to control himself.  
  
"Where did those idiots go? I'm going to beat the pulp out of them."  
  
"They're probably 510 miles from here. Liu Buk, Zhang Jiao's generals have about a thousand men there. It's not wise, Sun Ce."  
  
Zhao Yun thought for a moment, then remembering something important he asked, "How about my family?"  
  
The villagers quieted. Finally, one of the old man that played with Zhao Yun when he was young spoke up.  
  
"Your father was killed while he tried to fight. Your mother was taken as prisoner. I don't think they'd kill her easily, since she looked so beautiful. Your sister was taken along with your mother. I guess they kind of liked her, too."  
  
Zhao Yun had thought about the fact that there were about a thousand men there, but after hearing about the fate of his family, he decided to beat the pulp out of them, just like Sun Ce.  
  
Spilling a few tears, he said, "My dad wouldn't forgive me if I just let this go past. Is there anyone that will follow me?"  
  
The villagers agreed that the men would go if Zhao Yun waited for a week to let them heal. In the meantime, the men started training to get ready. By the end of the week, 73 men were ready with poor armor and weapons, but they were about the same quality as the Yellow Turbans.  
  
"Let's go! For our village! For the Han!"  
  
The men cheered and they followed Zhao Yun and Sun Ce.  
  
They walked quietly until they came near to the enemy's camp and they saw about 2 guards at the entrance.  
  
Zhao Yun, sitting down said, "Let's think about this. Even though we kill those two guards. 73 men, Sun Ce, and I can't take down a thousand men. We're going to have to use strategy.  
  
"You men stay here and train silently for the next battle. Sun Ce and I'm going to look around the enemy's camp.  
  
Sun Ce and Zhao Yun went to a big hill and looked around. There were the prisoners at the center of the camp. There was a giant tent at the end of the camp, no doubt it was Liu Buk's tent. Since Sang-San was a mountainous area, they had the advantage. They returned and Zhao Yun told his plan to the others and they all agreed.  
  
Zhao Yun and Sun Ce took 23 men and went up to the guards and killed them. Then they retreated about 10 yards and waited for the other soldiers to come out.  
  
"You Yellow Turbans! If you guys surrender, we'll let you live! If not, face my wrath!"  
  
The soldiers looked at Zhao Yun, Sun Ce and the small number of soldiers. About 500 were now at waiting mode and Liu Buk came out.  
  
"Ha! You think you can beet me with that scrawny number? I guess you guys are from the village we borrowed from. We were planning on leaving you guys there, but I guess we're going to have to finish you off! Attack!"  
  
All the soldiers charged at them with no strategy, just as Zhao Yun had thought.  
  
Zhao yelled, "Retreat!"  
  
They retreated to the place where two cliffs were. The Turbans didn't know anything and got themselves right inside to a trap. The other 50 men dropped giant stones and shot arrows. The remainder of the army retreated to their camp, but they left the cliff, just to meet Sun Ce and the 23 men. Sun Ce took out his tonfas and started killing men like crazy, showing his power.  
  
Shocked, Liu Buk went the other way of the cliff to escape. There weren't even a hundred Turbans left and none of them had the power to fight. Just then, they met Zhao Yun and the 50 soldiers from the cliff. Liu Buk saw Zhao Yun come and kill about 20 soldiers in two slashes. Admitting his defeat, Liu Buk got to his knees.  
  
"Lord Zhao Yun, please me serve you for the rest of my life."  
  
Zhao Yun was a little surprised at Liu Buk getting to his knees, but he said, "I'm glad to have you in my forces, Liu Buk."  
  
Zhao Yun had defeated the thousand-men army with 73 men, and didn't let even one men get hurt. Liu Buk made the rest of the Yellow Turbans at camp become Zhao Yun's men. Zhao Yun thanked the villagers and they freed the prisoners. He gave a hug to his mother and 13-year old sister. She had really gotten prettier. Her hair had been short, only to her shoulders, but now it stretched down to the end of her back, beautifully tied.  
  
"Zhao Mi, it's been a long time."  
  
"Brother, I missed you."  
  
Sun Ce looking at them hug tightly and said, "Are you sure you're just family?"  
  
After receiving a strong push from Zhao Yun, he said, "Sorry." But he continued chuckling to himself.  
  
Zhao Yun returned with the villager men, the women who were prisoners, Liu Buk, stolen weapons, armor, food, money, and also 600 soldiers of his own.  
  
They had a feast that day. The men laughed and drank and the women talked by themselves. Everybody was amazed on how strong Zhou Yun and Sun Ce had become in the past 5 years. The men kept talking about Zhou Yun killing 20 men in two slashes. Zhou Mi was talking to Sun Ce and they seemed to be talking about something serious. Zhou Yun drank as he talked to the guys about his past 5 years of training.  
  
A guy who had sold meat buns when Zhou Yun was young said, "Zhou Yun, it's been 5 years! I can't believe you were the happy, little kid running around the mountain with Sun Ce."  
  
The blacksmith man also asked, "So, what do you plan to do now?"  
  
"I guess I'm going to go find a good leader I can't fight for. I'm looking for a leader that seeks a peaceful world. If there's no one, I'll start that peaceful world by myself."  
  
The men around him nodded here and there, agreeing with him.  
  
"I know you'll succeed. If you can't do it, who can?"  
  
The men started laughing and started drinking again.  
  
  
  
It was morning and Zhao Yun felt a little groggy. Sun Ce was still snoring loudly. Zhou Yun felt a little dizzy from drinking last night. He got ready to leave. He got his armor and weapons ready and stepped outside. He saw the villagers 600 soldiers food supply wagons, and Liu Buk waiting for him. Liu Buk and the soldiers bowed to him.  
  
"Lord Zhao Yun, we're ready."  
  
"Great. We'll leave as soon as Sun Ce gets up."  
  
Sun Ce woke up and got ready in 30 minutes. Then before leaving, Zhao Mi appeared, riding on one of the few horses in the village.  
  
"Sister, why are you on the horse? You don't possibly think you're going to. . ."  
  
"Yes, I'm following you. I got permission from Sun Ce last night."  
  
"Sis, I know you want to help me, but you'd be put in danger."  
  
As Zhao Mi glared at the soldiers, she said, "I've faced enough dangers with the Yellow Turbans."  
  
"Sis, I still don't think. . ."  
  
"I've studied about battle strategies and politics to help you achieve your goal in the future."  
  
Zhao Yun was moved by his sister's effort to help them.  
  
"Fine. But if anything happens to you, I'm sending you back, clear?"  
  
"All right!"  
  
Sun Ce grinned behind them and said, "Zhao Yun, follow me."  
  
Zhao Yun followed Sun Ce alone to the mountain of Jwa Jwa's home.  
  
They climbed for a few hours until they got to the plateau with the mysterious aura. Sun Ce stopped and looked back at Zhao Yun.  
  
"I know we're close friends, but if we want to be together forever and achieve our goal, we have to have a bond we can't break."  
  
Zhao Yun thought for a while.  
  
"You don't mean. . ."  
  
"Let's be sworn brothers! We'll be together for the rest of our lives, helping each other when times get rough. We'll be sad together, we'll be angry together, we'll be happy together. If we want to make that kind of bond, let's become sworn brothers in front of Jwa Jwa's house."  
  
Zhao Yun nodded and they walked together to Jwa Jwa's house.  
  
There was nobody in the house, now that Jwa Jwa was gone. They saw a tree that had the Rose of Sharon for its flowers.  
  
Zhao Yun looked at the flowers and said, "Rose of Sharon blooms at the beginning of the day and dies at night. It continues blooming and dying together. They do this all summer and autumn, so that makes me like this flower, especially.  
  
"I agree. Let's do it here."  
  
They took out their weapons and put it together.  
  
Zhao Yun said, "At Chang San, in front of teacher Jwa Jwa's house Sun Ce and I have sworn to be sworn brothers."  
  
Sun Ce continued, "We'll be happy together, sad together, and be angry together."  
  
"We'll be there for each other during good times and hard times."  
  
"Just like the Rose Of Sharon, we'll live together and die together."  
  
"We shall never, ever die until we have achieved our goal!"  
  
"Let us fulfill these things and let us be sworn brothers for life!"  
  
The Tonfas and the Spear looked a little awkward together, but as son as they said these words, the aura around them seemed to surround them, covering their bodies and weapons with the blue aura. Zhao Yun suddenly felt stronger and Sun Ce seemed to feel that way, because Sun Ce waved the tonfas a lot more freely than last time.  
  
Zhao Yun walked up to Sun Ce and smiled. "Now we're brothers for life!"  
  
Sun Ce grinned his usual way and said, "This was the kind of bond I was looking for!"  
  
They went down the mountain, almost running with all the happiness and the energy they had. They were down the mountain in less than an hour.  
  
It was around noon now, so they all decided to leave after eating lunch.  
  
During lunch, every talked merrily and Zhao Yun spent most of his time talking to his mother and the other villagers.  
  
They waved good-bye to the others and Zhao Yun left with his troops, Liu Buk, Sun Ce, and Zhao Mi. Zhao Yun looked back at his hometown. There were the villagers waving wildly at him. He had 15 years of hard, but lots of memories here. Thinking of the happy, sad, and mad memories from the past, Zhao Yun cried for a minute and turned his horse away, leaving the area of Chang San.  
  
  
  
Zhao Yun's army was walking in the hot sun. Zhao Yun, Zhao Mi, Liu Buk, Sun Ce, and the 5 best soldiers were the only ones riding horses. Zhao Yun felt sorry for the other soldiers trudging on their foot in the sun.  
  
Sun Ce asked, "So, where are we heading to?"  
  
Zhao Yun simply answered, "We're going Northeast. Northeast is the Yellow Turbans land, so we're bound to meet some of those idiots. I have a good plan ready when we meet them. We've got to pretend we're the Yellow Turbans when we meet some of them. Liu Buk and our soldiers wearing yellow should help convince them. We're gonna have to know each other by ourselves, so we can capture more generals, soldiers, and steal more food and money. It'll help us in the future."  
  
Even though their soldier uniform was yellow, they decided to give them white shoes, so they could tell each other apart.  
  
At night, they camped out at the area of Ha Ghan, not too far away from Chang San.  
  
Zhao Yun looked around the area and said, "We should arrive at Nam Pi tomorrow around noon. We must try to use strategies to beat them, without any weapons. However, we must train for a battle, just incase."  
  
They trained all night and went to sleep around 1 in the morning.  
  
Zhao Yun couldn't get any sleep, wondering what would happen tomorrow.  
  
  
  
The next morning, the soldiers trained once more in the morning briefly. Then they headed for Nam Pi. They must've seen them beforehand, because about 2000 soldiers came out to meet them.  
  
Zhang Liang, Zhang Jiao's brother came to meet them.  
  
"Liu Buk! It's great to see you! What happened?"  
  
Liu Buk answered as if he was still one of the Turbans.  
  
"We were attacked by the Hans. They've finally started their attack on us. We must prepare. I tried to block them off, but we were outnumbered. These three generals helped us escape and they seem to be interested in joining the Yellow Turbans."  
  
Zhang Liang didn't seem to suspect anything, because he just said, "Great! We needed more generals! They do seem young, but yet powerful. Come in, come in!"  
  
As they entered, Liu Buk asked, "So how's Nam Pi doing?"  
  
"Excellent. We have about 30,000 men here. We'll be ready to fight those Han idiots anytime. We have enough food supplies to last us almost a year."  
  
Liu Buk, pretending to sound as if it was a dangerous time, said "The Han soldiers will be at Nam Pi in a week or two, by the way their going."  
  
Zhang Liang closed his eyes, as if thinking. Then he said, "We must get ready right away."  
  
They received good food and shelter for a week and after they were ready for battle, Zhang Liang decided to go wait for the Han with 10000 men.  
  
"Who will come with me?"  
  
Zhou Chang, Zhang Liang's bodyguard stepped up. Zhao Yun thought and he stepped up as well.  
  
"Excellent! With you two, I'll be safe from anyone! Liu Buk, Zhao Mi, and Sun Ce, I'll have you guys defend the castle! Send reinforcement after a week or two. If things get rough, I'll send a messenger."  
  
Liu Buk nodded. Then after Zhang Liang went out, Zhao Yun, Zhao Mi, Liu Buk, and Sun Ce went out and they looked a little mad.  
  
Sun Ce talked as if he didn't understand why Zhao Yun stepped up.  
  
"Why'd you stand up? You should've just said you'd stay in the castle!"  
  
Zhao Yun just grinned and said, "It's part of my plan. You guys take the 20000 soldiers and turn them in to our side by convincing them. Don't use force, because it'll be hard. I'll be pretending to fight and while doing that, I'm thinking of. . ."  
  
The other three were listening to him hard.  
  
"Assassinating him."  
  
They all looked shocked, but Sun Ce said, "I knew you'd have something like that on your sleeve!"  
  
Liu Buk said, "It's a bit risky, but if you succeed, that'd be a real achievement. In the meantime, try to get Zhou Chang on our side. He's a bit of a fighter."  
  
"Got it."  
  
  
  
Zhao Yun was at camp with Zhang Liang and Zhou Chang. The Han soldiers must've really come. He saw well-armored soldiers standing outside of their camp.  
  
Zhang Liang said, "Just let 'em come about 10 more yards. I'll have a surprise for them.  
  
A man with a beautiful, long beard came up and shouted, "Zhang Liang, feel my wrath!"  
  
Zhang Liang, who turned out to be a very good cusser.  
  
The beared man, who's name turned out to be Guan Yu must've been pissed off, because he said, "Charge!"  
  
Zhang Liang smiled and said, "Right into our trap."  
  
The soldiers were running when they fell into a giant hole. Then as the soldiers behind them stopped, the land started shaking and the land became giant holes like dominos. Soldiers fell in the holes like crazy until there wasn't even a thousand soldiers left.  
  
Zhang Liang said, "They'll leave after they climb out of the holes. I think I'm going to go take a nap."  
  
Zhao Yun stared at the giant hole that stretched for miles and he said, "Amazing."  
  
That night, Zhao Yun quietly got out of his tent and went outside. All was quiet except for a few soldiers that were on watch. They bowed when they saw Zhao Yun. He nodded and he knew these guards would be a bother to him. With a dagger, he killed each one quietly, one by one. After all the guards were dead, he walked over to Zhang Liang's tent quieter than his shadow.  
  
He approached the tent, where he saw two more guards. He shot a double arrow and hit them both on target. After the two guards fell down without a sound, he went on and inside the tent. He saw some snoring coming from the bed. It was no doubt it was Zhang Liang, because he's snoring could be heard all over the tent. Zhou Yun looked over to the sleeping figure of Zhang Liang. He felt sorry for killing such a smart mind that could've done great things if he was just on the right side. Then as he lifted his dagger up, he saw Zhang Liang open his eyes. Panicking, he stabbed Zhang Liang in the heart. He had been hoping that Zhang Liang would've died silently, but he made this big, ugly sound that was heard all over camp.  
  
He heard voices waking up from everywhere and running to his direction. After looking at the corpse, he saw the eyes still open with shock. He left the dagger and quickly left the tent. After he left, he knew it was too late. There were hundreds of soldiers surrounding him already and more were coming out of their tents. Zhou Chang came out among the soldiers and get him a hard look.  
  
"He has killed our leader! Let's kill him!"  
  
Zhao Yun looked around for an escape route, but there was none. Then as if waiting for something, he felt a strong wind blow him and the thing he needed most for encouragement landed perfectly on his hand; a single flower of the Rose of Sharon. 


	3. Destroying the Turbans

Hey! There's an error in chapter 2. I wrote 5 to 10 miles, but made a mistake. There might be some people that must've known they couldn't have possibly gone 510 miles. Oh well. There might be a few more, but if there's too many mistakes, tell me and I'll correct and rewrite the whole chapter. Uh. . .and plz R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Chapter 3: Destroying the Turbans  
  
Zhao Yun held the Rose of Sharon tight in his hand put it in his back pocket. Just then, the soldiers started attacking him from all sides. However, Zhao Yun suddenly didn't feel in danger, but he felt free and gave a hi-kick to the first few soldiers that charged at him. Then he saw one of the soldiers that had a spear for his weapon. It wasn't a good spear, but it was a spear. Grabbing the spear he said, "I promised to my brother and to the world that I wouldn't die until I made the world peaceful again! I won't die to Turbans like you!"  
  
Zhao Yun started slashing crazily with the power of the Rose of Sharon. Thinking of Sun Ce and Zhao Mi, he started slashing through thousands of soldiers. After an hour, he became tired from swinging the spear everywhere. There were beheaded Turbans everywhere. Others didn't have arms, legs, or their stomach had a hole in it.  
  
Zhou Chang just stood there with his mouth hanging down, probably thinking about the number of men Zhao Yun had killed so far. Finally, another 30 minutes passed when Zhao Yun started getting more exhausted and was taking slower swings.  
  
Just then, Zhou Chang said, "Soldiers, pull back!"  
  
The Turbans pulled back and arranged a line. There were dead bodies everywhere and Zhao Yun was standing there, sweating like crazy.  
  
"We'll just lose more men if we attack without thinking. Archers!"  
  
A few hundred archers stepped up surrounding Zhao Yun.  
  
"Zhao Yun, I was surprised and moved at your skills at fighting. I do not want to kill you like this. If you decide to become a Turban and fight against the Han, I'll let you live and just pretend that the Han soldiers killed Zhang Liang. How about it? Would you like to help Lord Zhang Jiao open a new world?"  
  
"Kiss my ass, you bitch!" Zhao Yun, whose eyes were all red from exhaustion shot a glare at Zhou Chang.  
  
Zhou Chang sighed and said, "It's no use. He was someone we could've used well. Archers, fire!"  
  
Hundreds of archers started firing from everywhere and Zhao Yun dodged the first set of arrows by jumping. As another set came up behind him, Zhao Yun turned just in time to block it off. Then he felt a few arrows hit him on the back, but it just bounced off. The silver armor he received from Jwa Jwa must've been something special.  
  
Zhao Yun felt a lot happier and started blocking the arrows again with the spear. Zhou Chang was surprised even more at Zhao Yun's power. Then an arrow that Zhao Yun didn't see went inside Zhao Yun's side, a spot that was weakly guarded.  
  
Zhao Yun flinched and fell to his knee. Zhou Chang must've noticed this as a chance, because he yelled, "Charge!"  
  
The footmen surrounded him with spears pointed to his head. Zhao Yun just stayed in his position. Then Zhao Yun reached into his back pocket and took out the crumpled up Rose of Sharon. Then needing help, he yelled into the distance gripping on to the Rose of Sharon hard. Then he saw a giant dragon he had only heard stories of. The light blue dragon sent this giant windstorm at the army and he saw most of the soldiers falling down on to the ground instantly. The others were blown far away. His insides felt weird as the incredible force of wind blew against his body. Then the dragon waited, as if waiting for Zhao Yun's command. Zhao Yun just said, "Finish it off." Then Zhao Yun also fell to the ground.  
  
He woke up to see that he was on a bed, but he didn't have any serious injuries, except for the arrow that went inside his side. However, it was all bandaged up. He saw Zhou Chang resting, too. Then Zhou Chang woke up a few minutes later and said, "Lord Zhao Yun, have you awakened?"  
  
"Huh? Don't you want to kill me?"  
  
"Yes. That was what I wanted to do at first, but seeing your power, no doubt you summoned the dragon. That was the legendary wind dragon. As soon as I saw your power, defense, and the dragon, I decided to serve you as my lord. Please let me be one of your army!"  
  
Zhao Yun nodded and Zhou Chang got up.  
  
"So, how about the rest of the soldiers?"  
  
"There's probably not even 5000 left. It'll take a month or two for them to recover. Some of the injuries are too gruesome. However, one good thing is that the Han forces must've been blown away as well. They've seemed to have cleared their camp."  
  
  
  
Zhao Yun and Zhou Chang stayed there for a month. Then after about half the soldiers had recovered, they decided to go back to Nam Pi.  
  
Zhao Yun ignored Zhou Chang's advice that the soldiers were still not in good condition.  
  
"Zhou Chang, if we just walk for a week or so, we can get better hospitality, now that we can at least move around. If we stay around this camp, the Han soldiers are bound to come back and they'll see us as Yellow Turbans. Since the Turbans probably know about me now, there's no use keeping our uniform at yellow. We'll change it to silver-grayish."  
  
Zhou Chang nodded and ordered the whole troops to go to Nam Pi. Some soldiers weren't pleased at the order, but Zhao Yun made a false rumor that the Han soldiers were coming again to make the Turban soldiers hurry to Nam Pi.  
  
After arriving at Nam Pi, it had been successfully taken by Sun Ce.  
  
Sun Ce enthusiastically said, "We have 20000 soldiers now! This isn't a bad number at all!"  
  
Zhao Yun smiled and said, "I've brought 5000 soldiers, food, got Zhou Chang on our side, and killed Zhang Liang!"  
  
Sun Ce grinned and said, "I knew you could do it! I even sent a Rose of Sharon to your direction when the wind was blowing in the direction to your camp.  
  
Zhao Yun was speechless for a moment and wondered if the Rose of Sharon he got was the one Sun Ce was talking about. Zhao Yun didn't have it with him anymore, so he couldn't be sure, but the two stories fitted together so well.  
  
Sun Ce, not noticing anything said, "Well, we got to go party!"  
  
Zhao Yun, still thinking said, "Yeah. . ."  
  
The story about Zhao Yun killing Zhang Liang spread throughout Nam Pi. The soldiers were given extra dinner and the generals were given a party.  
  
"I've heard that the Han are coming back." Zhao said.  
  
Sun Ce said, "Yeah, but I can't believe we got a place for our own!"  
  
Zhao Yun quietly drank as he said, "We're packing up and leaving Nam Pi in three days."  
  
Sun Ce spit out what he was drinking and almost yelled, "What? Just let go of the castle we earned so exhaustingly? I thought my mouth fell off trying to convince all the soldiers here!"  
  
Zhao Yun said, "Sun Ce, use your head. Having a castle of our own means we're starting something like a rebellion. We'll just take our 25000 soldiers, two-year supply of food, all the money here and we'll be on our way. We'll need all these things for the future. Meanwhile, we'll have to be quiet and on the move. Also, take all the people here who want to be soldiers. The more soldiers we have, the better."  
  
  
  
In two days, they had packed up everything until it was empty. They had left some food for the people living in Nam Pi. They took more soldiers from Nam Pi. Then after they were finished, Zhao Yun, Sun Ce, Zhao Mi, Zhou Chang, and Liu Buk left Nam Pi and headed towards Ping Won, a small castle a little south of Nam Pi.  
  
They camped out near Ping Won and Zhao Yun looked around the area.  
  
"Who's the leader of this place?"  
  
Zhou Chang answered, "It's probably Be Won So. He used to be a friend of Liu Buk."  
  
Zhao Yun looked back at Liu Buk and saw him skulking as he glared at the Ping Won. Curious, he asked Zhou Chang, "He used to be?"  
  
"Yes, my lord. They had a fight for the one who could get a higher place when they signed under Zhang Jiao's forces. Their fighting skills were similar, but Be Won So got the better spot. Liu Buk was going to just let it pass since they were friends, but when Be Won So started teasing and acting as if he was the best, that was the end to their relationship. On top of that, Liu Buk could've gotten a pretty good job as well, but Be Won So told Zhang Jiao something that Liu Buk couldn't be trusted, so he was given the least important place. That hurt Liu Buk a lot."  
  
"Oh. . ."  
  
Zhao Yun acted nicely to Liu Buk at camp after that, trying to make him feel better.  
  
The next day, Zhao Yun asked some of the guard soldiers.  
  
"Did the enemy see us yet?"  
  
"No, sir. Either they're not thinking about us, or they haven't seen us."  
  
"Good. Since we're not as strong as the regular soldiers, we'll spend a few months training in different areas."  
  
Zhao Yun divided the soldiers to Sun Ce, himself, Liu Buk and Zhou Chang. The four of them went to different areas and started training hard. They took turns rotating the spots. The first area was the plains. This was the most basic training area they used to learn the basics. The second area was the mountain. They learned how to fight if they were in a bad position, like at the bottom of the mountain. They learned about where soldiers could be hiding for a surprise attack in the mountains. They also learned other areas they could have better position, letting them have a higher chance of winning. The last area was in the water. They learned how to fight in the water, ride boats, and not get water sick. They rotated everyday into five different stations. The four stations were the four areas and the other station was defending their base.  
  
  
  
6 months passed and the Han were taking control. Ping Won was one of the few castles left for the Yellow Turbans. Then they heard that Zhang Bao moved inside Ping Won to defend it from the Hans. Zhao Yun's soldiers were pretty strong now that they were about as strong as the Han soldiers, maybe stronger.  
  
They were almost ready to start their attack on Ping Won, when they saw the Yellow Turbans from Ping Won.  
  
"I am Be Won So! You rats did a good job hiding from us, did you? Well, I'm here to destroy you all! Death to the Han!"  
  
Liu Buk, who was slowly getting redder and redder, yelled back, "Be Won So, you bitch! I thought you were my friend, but you dare laugh at a childhood friend and you come back as if you're the best, but you're going down today! NOW!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Be Won So looked shocked for a moment at seeing Liu Buk, but he smirked again and said, "Well, well if it isn't Liu Buk who lost to me? We could've still been friends if you weren't a sore loser. I knew you'd betray the Turbans from the first place!"  
  
Liu Buk, who got his armor, horse, and spear ready, ran out of the camp alone. He yelled, "Be Won So! Let's make a deal! If I win today, I will take your life for all the things you did to me! If I lose, I'll bow to you and let you do whatever you want with me!"  
  
Be Won So grinned and said, "This is the Liu Buk I know! Very well, it's a deal! One-on-one I guess?"  
  
"Of course. You probably won't have any sly tricks up your sleeve?"  
  
"Liu Buk, after having been friends for 15 years, you still don't believe me?"  
  
"I used to, but I don't anymore!"  
  
Be Won So came out with a black horse and a yellow armor. Liu Buk had a dark brown horse with his brown armor.  
  
They got their spears and ready and started fighting. They charged with their horses, yelling like crazy men. Liu Buk looked as if he was crazy with all the fury inside of him. Be Won So looked in ease as if this was going to be an easy battle.  
  
The two spears clashed in mid-air and nobody seemed to be winning. Liu Buk withdrew his spear and tried to stab Be Won So, but he blocked if off with the end of his spear. Then he tried a counter attack, but Liu Buk overcame it with strength. They continued fighting for an hour, but nobody seemed to get tired. The fight seemed to be endless as they continued swinging their spears. Be Won So took a giant swing and knocked Liu Buk from his horse. Liu Buk recovered quickly, but he was bleeding a little on the face. Liu Buk started having a red aura on him. He started waving the spear like crazy and he was covered in fire. Be Won So took another downward slash at him, but it just bounced off and Be Won So also fell off his horse. Then he defended the strangely powerful attack with his spear, but when Liu Buk took a final slash of his powerful attack, it broke through the shield and sent Be Won So flying yards away. Be Won So was bleeding like crazy in the face and Liu Buk walked towards Be Won So. Be Won So stared at Liu Buk in a scared way as Liu Buk stood in front of him.  
  
"Be Won So. . ."  
  
Be Won So's face was covered with blood, but the two big eyes stared at Liu Buk with plee.  
  
"Liu Buk, we were such good friends. . ."  
  
"Yes, but you were the one who ended that relationship. On top of beating me, you said things about me that made me who I was. You aren't the Be Won So I used to know when we were young."  
  
Be Won So stared up at Liu Buk, dreading to hear the words he knew he'd hear.  
  
"Good-bye, Be Won-So."  
  
Be Won So, his eyes getting bigger yelled, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Liu Buk got his spear took it down right on to Be Won So's neck.  
  
A few tears came out of Liu Buk's face as he said, "Good-bye, friend."  
  
  
  
The Turbans had run away after Be Won So's death and Liu Buk gave him a proper funeral.  
  
Gathering his spunk again, Sun Ce said, "Next stop, Ping Won! I heard that the Han soldiers are going to attack there as well. We've got to go in beat the heck out of Zhang Bao, take the food and money, gather the soldiers and we got to get out of here!"  
  
They got lots of footmen to carry lots of ram vehicles to the castle. They got thousands of archers hidden in bushes around Ping Won. They also prepared bombers to throw bombs into the castle as well. They waited until it was night and then they shouted, "Charge!!!!!!" The footmen charged towards the castle with a ram vehicle, the bowmen shot their fire arrows, and the bombers threw bombs to the castle walls from a great distance. The guards looked surprised, because they just lay down dead after arrows and bombs hit them. The footmen started ramming the walls and the walls were down in a matter of minutes, due to the great number of ramming vehicles. Zhao Yun was the first to charge inside Ping Won. Sun Ce followed right behind Zhao Yun, covering his back. Next, Liu Buk and Zhou Chang entered with the footmen while Zhao Mi stayed in the back with the archers, helping them shoot arrows.  
  
Zhao Yun went inside the biggest palace in the castle. He saw a few girls, probably concubines looking at him as if they were interested in Zhao Yun. Then he just charged through until he got to the end of the room where a big bed was. He saw Zhang Bao, fully dressed, ready for him. They started to duel inside the palace and Zhao Yun knew that Zhang Bao was no match for him. Then Zhang Bao talked in a small voice and suddenly Zhao Yun was lifted to his feet and sent crashing to a wall. Zhao Yun's head hurt like crazy and he tried to get up, but Zhang Bao was over him with a sword to Zhao Yun's neck. Zhao Yun saw the sword slowly pierce his neck, along with Zhang Bao's ugly cackle.  
  
Cackling, Zhang Bao said, "Your life ends here."  
  
Then Zhao Yun saw the sword go inside his neck and he started feeling dizzy.  
  
"I can't die like this. . ."  
  
Just then, he saw a blurred figure enter the palace and repeatedly hit Zhang Bao's head. Then he saw the blurred figure land a powerful hit on Zhang Bao's neck, beheading him. Zhao Yun tried to see who the blurred figure was, but he felt dizzy that he couldn't see. Seeing the color of the clothes and the smell, Zhao Yun was pretty sure he knew who it was, but before he could finish his thought, he blacked out.  
  
  
  
Zhao Yun woke up again and noticed that he was on the bed Zhang Bao was on. He saw Sun Ce looking at him in a worried expression.  
  
"I thought you were dead for a second. That bitch cut a few centimeters of your neck."  
  
Zhao Yun got up and said, "You were the one who killed Zhang Bao!"  
  
"You knew? I knew not taking my bath would help you recognize me someday."  
  
Zhao Yun laughed and felt the neck bandage all around his neck.  
  
"So how about the battle?"  
  
Sun Ce grinned again and said, "Big success, bro. We completely took them in surprise. We lost almost no men since they didn't have time to get their weapons and armor. We just gained like 60,000 more soldiers. We're recruiting more in the city right now. So we're estimating about 100,000 soldiers now. They had a whole bunch of food here, but since our number of soldiers increased a lot, it'll be enough for about a year. We're also rich man! Enough money to buy 2 years worth of food supplies!"  
  
They started talking about what they would do in the future, but Zhou Chang interrupted them.  
  
"Zhang Liang has come to Ping Won to revenge his brothers, my Lord. They'll be here in a matter of days."  
  
Zhao Yun quickly got up and dressed. Then he started walking to the strategy room.  
  
"Zhou Chang, tell Liu Buk and Zhao Mi to come to the strategy room."  
  
An hour later, they five of them were ready at the strategy room. There was a map of Ping Won and the nearby area.  
  
"So, how will we defend Zhang Liang's attack? I want to use as little men as possible. If we make things big, things aren't good for us. Just make it nice and quick."  
  
Zhao Mi, stood up and started talking.  
  
"Brother, through this battle, let me show you how much I have learned."  
  
"Zhao Mi, I know your heart and I'm thankful, but it's too dangerous."  
  
Sun Ce said, "Zhao Yun, don't treat her like a kid. Just because she's thirteen now doesn't mean she can't do anything. Liu Buk and I'll protect her. Since you can't fight, Zhou Chang can protect you, deal?"  
  
In the end, Zhao Yun reluctantly agreed.  
  
"Well, Zhao Mi please explain your strategy to us."  
  
"OK. When Zhang Liang's forces come, we'll wait until night. Then I'll take a few hundred soldiers with me. With Zhang Liang's smart head, he'd probably camp in the best spot to fight in this area, which is this place." She said pointing to an area near Ping Won.  
  
"Anyways, we've already planted bombs on the ground on the place we're guessing would be their camp. So at night, I'll take a few hundred archers and we'll shoot fire arrows all over the camp. Then Zhang Liang will try to retreat to the place he came from, so we decided to plant more bombs in that area. Then when he tries out the other places, he'll meet his end. Since the Turbans stupid idiots that doesn't know anything, it'll work a lot easier."  
  
All the generals agreed to this plan and waited until Zhao Mi planted the bombs.  
  
Zhao Mi explained, "The bombs won't go off until it gets hot, so it'll probably work out all right.  
  
Zhao Yun hoped for the same thing and after this battle, it would be the end of the Yellow Turbans. Wanting to be the one to kill Zhang Liang, Zhao Yun trained his neck everyday and rested as well to get well. Another few days passed and Zhao Yun was well enough to take his bandage off, showing a sword mark on his neck.  
  
"Lord, here come Zhang Liang's forces."  
  
Zhao Yun grinned and said, "All right, now let's get the party started."  
  
How'd you like Chapter 3? I know 'Destroying the Turbans' isn't the best title in the world, but I couldn't think of anything better. Anyways, PLZ R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	4. Fight Against Lu Bu

Chapter 4; Fight against Lu Bu  
  
Zhao Yun and the others watched from the castle as Zhang Liang started setting their camp almost in the exact area Zhao Mi had predicted. Zhao Yun had to admit that his sister had gotten a lot more beautiful and smarter. They waited until night came.  
  
Sun Ce looked happier when Zhao Yun said, "We'll start our surprise attack and get rid of them as quickly as possible. We've got to leave Ping Won with all the supplies by tomorrow. Since we've got all the food supplies and the gold's ready, all we have to do is destroy Zhang Jiao's army and then we're going southeast to the land of Wu!"  
  
The men started shouting war cries and at night, about a thousand archers with fire arrows hid near the enemy's camp, ready to fire their arrows. When it was exactly 1 in the morning, they shot the fire arrows everywhere. As they had suspected, the whole camp was put on fire. Zhang Jiao's giant army was already shredding down little by little. Then they saw most of the soldiers escaping towards the place they had come from; the place with the most bombs. When lots of soldiers started to get on the bombs, Zhao Mi yelled, "Fire!"  
  
Another row of fire arrows landed on the bombs, causing them to explode, which caused other bombs to collide and created a bigger explosion. The Yellow Turbans soldier's bodies started flying everywhere. It was really something to see. Zhao Yun was waiting in the castle gates for Zhang Jiao to appear. Then he saw a man wearing a dark cloak with a big staff coming towards the castle and when the bombs there exploded, he fell back and ran around crazily.  
  
Zhao Yun ran to that area once all the bombs had been set off. The whole army just ran the Turbans over and Zhao Yun was left alone with Zhang Jiao.  
  
"You stupid fool! You don't know who you're messing with!"  
  
"Zhang Jiao, I think I know very well who I am messing with. You've only made Han a difficult place to live when it was hard enough as it was. You don't deserve to live."  
  
Zhang Jiao looked superior even though 100,000 soldiers were all around him. Then using his staff, Zhang Jiao became lighter and lighter until he disappeared. When Zhao Yun was looking around for Zhang Jiao, he appeared behind Zhao Yun and gave Zhao Yun a baseball swing with his staff on the head.  
  
Zhao Yun fell over and got his spear ready. Then as Zhang Jiao disappeared again, Zhao Yun got hit three more times. Zhao Yun was bleeding pretty badly now on the head. Zhang Jiao started laughing and cackling like crazy and tried his trick again. Then Zhao Yun closed his eyes and waited for Zhang Jiao to appear. When Zhang Jiao had come behind Zhao Yun again, Zhao Yun felt him and stabbed Zhang Jiao right through the heart. Zhang Jiao stopped dead in the position of getting ready to hit Zhou Yun with a baseball swing.  
  
Zhang Jiao fell, but Zhao Yun twisted his spear when it was stuck on Zhang Jiao's heart. After killing Zhang Jiao gruesomely, Zhao Yun stood there for a while and shouted, "The Yellow Turbans have been completely destroyed!"  
  
The soldiers gave another war cry and went back to the castle to get a good night's sleep.  
  
  
  
In the morning, everybody was busy eating breakfast. After breakfast, they got ready to leave for Wu. They were going to need boats to get to Wu, so they got some wood ready to make the boats when they got there. Taking the 100,000 soldiers, food, and gold, Zhao Yun and his troops finally left Ping Won.  
  
They traveled south and they were thankful that they were going south. It was mid-December and it had been cold in the northern area. They traveled for another month and they reached the river. Having learned how to survive in water, they got through Yellow river without any problems. Then when they arrived at Wu, it was a free city, so Zhao Yun decided to stay at the castle for the meantime. At Wu, Zhao Yun started making the soldiers farm for their own food, as a part of their training.  
  
Then a few months later, Zhao Yun's training was going well. Then he heard news that Dong Zhou took control of the emperor and leaders from all over Han were going to become one and take care of Dong Zhou. Around that time, the emperor told Zhao Yun and Sun Ce to come to Nak Yang, the capital of Han. It took the two of them two months to go to Nak Yang.  
  
They bowed to the emperor and didn't get up until the emperor told them to get up. The emperor was a kid, probably just a little over ten. However, the emperor looked very smart and the way he talked seemed to affect everyone in different ways.  
  
"I have heard of all the things you did, Zhao Yun and Sun Ce. You got rid of the Turbans from Nam Pi and Ping Chon. Also, you guys defeated Zhang Liang, Zhang Bao and Zhang Jiao. For all the things you have done, I wish to give you two a present."  
  
Sun Ce didn't say anything, expecting a present. However, Zhao Yun knew his manners and said, "My Lord, we have only done what we were supposed to do for the Han. If a rebellion starts, it's only obvious that we stop it."  
  
"Zhao Yun, I am moved by your manners. Let's walk around and talk for awhile."  
  
They followed the emperor to the stable where all the horses were resting.  
  
Pointing to the two crappy horses they received from Jwa Jwa, the emperor said, "These horses are your horse, is it not?"  
  
"Yes it is, my lord."  
  
"These horses are too pitiful. You guys have revived the Han and those two heroes ride horses like that? Sun Ce, take this Shadow Runner as your horse. This horse is invincible and it's good on battles. Zhao Yun, you can take the Red Hare, the fastest horse in the world. It's better if you guys take it, anyways. Dong Zhou would probably take everything away from me anyways. So take this Storm Runner, too."  
  
After receiving the presents, they were allowed to stay at the palace for a month. The stay at the palace was good. There were lots of food, girls, and entertainment. Zhao Yun shared a giant room with Sun Ce. The room had two giant king size beds with cushions everywhere and it was decorated with the most colorful colors. The only people that ate with the emperor were Sun Ce, himself, and Dong Zhou. Zhao Yun also got to see the man named Lu Bu.  
  
Lu Bu was a man about a foot taller than Sun Ce, and he looked somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties. On top of his head, there were some antennas attached to the armor he wore. It made him look like a bug, but Zhao Yun knew that that was the biggest bug he had ever seen. He held a giant halberd with him and he accompanied Dong Zhou at all times, making him Dong Zhou's bodyguard.  
  
Zhao Yun couldn't say he was friendly with either Dong Zhou or Lu Bu. They always shot his dark and scary glances. Sun Ce, who was also pretty good fighting with they eyes always had an eye fight with Lu Bu before dinner. One night, it was the young Emperor's birthday. They were eating with the emperor when Dong Zhou told the emperor, "Emperor, I'd like to give you the best of the entertainment, for you have turned twelve today."  
  
"Oh, Dong Zhou! I can't wait! What is the entertainment you prepared?"  
  
Dong Zhou yelled to the servants, "Bring Diao Chan in!"  
  
As he said that, Zhao Yun could see Lu Bu flinch and stare at Dong Zhou as the curtains were drawn.  
  
As the curtains were being drawn, Zhao Yun saw Lu Bu flinch and glare at Dong Zhou with the most loathing look on his face. Zhao Yun would've looked more, but he looked at the girl after the curtains were drawn. Zhao Yun stopped and just stared at the girl. He knew that there would be no one to match this girl's beauty. He just gazed at her in a stunned way. The emperor smiled, Dong Zhou just stared at her dreamily, and Sun Ce had his mouth open and didn't take his eyes off her.  
  
Diao Chan was a young girl about the age of fourteen. Even though she was young, she had a look of maturity in her face and body. She walked gracefully to the center of the room.  
  
Dong Zhou looked around and looking at Zhao Yun and Sun Ce's expression, he looked satisfied and said, "Diao Chan, perform your dance for your audience."  
  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
Diao Chan started dancing and it looked more graceful and water started coming out of Sun Ce's mouth from opening it too wide. Zhao Yun couldn't take his eyes off either. Diao Chan danced, sang, and played instruments for hours until it was late at night. Then she went away and Dong Zhou smiled satisfactorily.  
  
Looking at Sun Ce and Zhao Yun, he said, "How did you like Diao Chan?"  
  
Sun Ce spoke up right away. "I never knew such a girl actually existed in China. You are surely the luckiest man in the world."  
  
Dong Zhou laughed loudly and agreed with Sun Ce. Then the way Dong Zhou looked at Zhao Yun, Zhao Yun figured that he wanted an answer. So Zhao Yun just said, "Unbelievable."  
  
Dong Zhou seemed satisfied with the answer and they finish the night off by drinking. Then they all bowed to the emperor and went to their own rooms. Zhao Yun and Sun Ce walked to their rooms, talking about things like who Diao Chan gave looks at and who she'd like best.  
  
Sun Ce said, "I think I just saw my dream wife today."  
  
Zhao Yun laughed and said, "You took the words right out of my mouth, boy."  
  
At the room, Sun Ce fainted on his bed from drinking too much. Zhao Yun got to his bed and tried to sleep, but it was as if rice wine he drank kept him up rather than putting him to sleep. After tossing and turning for hours, he decided to take a walk around the palace. Wearing his night robes, he walked around the pond and felt the peacefulness of night at the palace. He tried to listen to the crickets softly chirping, but he instead heard sounds of somebody crying. He heard it coming from the other side of the river. When he got near the person, it was Diao Chan, the beautiful girl that had danced for them tonight.  
  
"Uh. . .are you all right?"  
  
Diao Chan flinched, not knowing whom it was. It took her awhile to recognize the person in the dark. Then her eyes turned big and said, "You were the one. . ."  
  
"Yeah. I really liked you singing and dancing today. You're really talented."  
  
Zhao Yun could see Diao Chan's smile on her skin, which shined in the moonlight. She looked even more beautiful now.  
  
Diao Chan smiled as she said, "Thanks. I was taught ever since I was young."  
  
"But why were you crying just now? You sounded so sad."  
  
Diao Chan looked up at Zhao Yun. She was a good half a foot shorter than Zhao Yun.  
  
"Can I trust you, uh. . ."  
  
"Zhao Yun. My name's Zhao Yun."  
  
"Oh, Zhao Yun. You probably know my name, Diao Chan."  
  
"Yeah. Of course I do."  
  
"Can I trust you, Zhao Yun?"  
  
Zhao Yun nodded.  
  
Diao Chan started, "Well, my parents died when I was young, but Wang Yun took me in and he's been like a father to me since. Then when Dong Zhou took control of the emperor and power, Wang Yun sent me as bait to make Dong Zhou and Lu Bu separate. Dong Zhou can't live without Lu Bu's power and Lu Bu can't live without Dong Zhou's help. If all goes well, Lu Bu will fight back against Dong Zhou and that'll be the end of both of them. That was my mission, but things are getting so hard that I can't bare it anymore. I want to go far away. . ."  
  
She burst into tears again and started crying on Zhao Yun's robe like a little girl. So after crying for a long time, Diao Chan fell asleep on Zhao Yun's lap. Zhao Yun sat by the pond, just looking at her. She looked like a doll, so pretty, so fragile and so weak. He wanted to touch her soft skin, but something told him that it wasn't a good idea. Then he stroked Diao Chan once on the face, but then Diao Chan took hold of Zhao Yun's hand and kept it on her face. They stayed this way until the sun started coming up. Then as he saw the sunlight hit Diao Chan's skin, she woke up slowly. After she had woken up, she still was holding on to Zhao Yun's hand tightly. Then after knowing what she was doing, she quickly let go and blushed to the color of crimson.  
  
"Zhao Yun, I'm so sorry. . ."  
  
"No, no it's okay."  
  
Diao Chan just nodded, but he saw her continue blushing as she ran back into the palace. Zhao Yun stayed for a few more minutes before he went into the palace as well. Sun Ce was still snoring loudly on his bed facedown. He must've not changed his sleeping position ever since he fainted onto the bed facedown. Chuckling, Zhao Yun got ready for another day.  
  
For the next few weeks until it was time for Zhao Yun and Sun Ce to depart, he met Diao Chan in the halls here and there. She always seemed to blush and smile her beautiful smile at the same time. Sun Ce seemed to be the saddest to leave the palace, but taking the three horses, they did one last bow to the emperor for their farewell.  
  
It was around six in the morning. It was probably obvious that Dong Zhou was still asleep. By seeing the size of his stomach, that guy had to get at least 12 hours of sleep everyday. Glad that he wouldn't have to say good- bye to his fat friend. With his silver armor, he got on his red hare as Sun Ce got on his Shadow Runner, with his red shiny armor on him. They took the Storm Runner without a rider, so as they were leaving the castle walls, Zhao Yun felt sorry that he couldn't say farewell to Diao Chan. He figured that Dong Zhou or Lu Bu would kill him on sight if he did. Sun Ce seemed to be thinking about the same thing, because he said, "I'm going to miss Diao Chan. . .She was the girl of my dreams."  
  
Zhao Yun nodded slowly and as they slowly turned their backs on Nak Yang. Then they heard light footsteps coming their way, followed by heavy footsteps. They looked and saw Diao Chan running towards them, but were closely chased by Lu Bu with his giant halberd. Zhao Yun, noticing what was going on yelled, "Sun Ce, get Diao Chan on the Storm Runner and run away fast! I'll hold Lu Bu off!"  
  
Sun Ce looked confused for a moment, but he grabbed Diao Chan off the ground and put her on top of the Storm Runner. Then Sun Ce yelled, "Ya!!!" and the two horses started running off into the distance. If he let the Red Hare get into Lu Bu's hands, Sun Ce and Diao Chan could be in trouble. So Zhao Yun got off the Red Hare and hit its behind sending it to Sun Ce and Diao Chan.  
  
Lu Bu looked as if his life was at an end. He had no horse to catch up to them and he had lost Diao Chan.  
  
Lu Bu turned red and he yelled, "Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
His eyes turned red and a red aura surrounded him. Zhao Yun started backing off, a little freaked out. Then Lu Bu gave Zhao Yun his death stare.  
  
"You took away my Diao Chan! Dong Zhou was enough for me, but you? I'll rip your bones apart! YAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lu Bu took a giant swing and his halberd was on fire. Zhao Yun used his defense against Lu Bu's attack. He blocked the first swings nicely, but the finishing swing was two or three times stronger than the other ones. The shield broke, sending Zhao Yun far away. Zhao Yun noticed his chance and when he was far away, he started running away. Lu Bu ran after him and Zhao Yun looked back to see Lu Bu not too far away from him. Lu Bu started gaining on Zhao Yun and he took another swing giving Zhao Yun a great gash in the back. Zhao Yun knew that Lu Bu was strong in attack, defense, and speed. There was no way to run or hide, so Zhao Yun faced Lu Bu face to face. Zhao Yun had a slash on his chest from the first attack and he had the big gash on his back as well. Lu Bu grinned maliciously and said, "Finally! You've decided to fight me like a man! You've made a nice decision. It's better dying fighting with honor rather than dying while running away like a coward. Well, let's start!"  
  
Zhao Yun got his spear ready, even though he was continuously bleeding on his chest and back. Zhao Yun took a few swings and Lu Bu just blocked them off easily. Then Lu Bu raised his halberd up to take another giant swing, but Zhao Yun saw right through that and quickly poked Lu Bu hard on the stomach before the halberd came down.  
  
Lu Bu fell back and started coughing up a little blood, looking surprised.  
  
"Not bad, not bad at all. I can't believe you gave me an injury."  
  
Not saying anything Zhao Yun took a side slash at Lu Bu, who just barely blocked it off. Then Lu Bu started looking exhausted himself. It was already noon and they had been fighting for almost 6 hours already. The hot sun scorched them, making it harder for them to fight.  
  
Lu Bu was panting heavily as he said, "Let's give it all we've got to finish off the battle. We've got to give it all we've got, got it? We'll take one last swing at each other and if it still remains as a draw, I'll let you go for today. I have some hatred but some good thoughts on you as well. I can't forgive you for taking my Diao Chan, but I have to say that fighting with you made feel a whole lot better." He gave his evil grin again. Then they stood about 50 feet away from each other, storing all the energy they had. Then they shouted as loud as they could and started running at each other. Then both the halberd and spear was covered with fire and Zhao Yun's secondary power of wind and Lu Bu seemed to have some kind of purple aura with the fire. When the two weapons met, a gigantic collision took place and a nearby person could've predicted that an atom bomb had been dropped. The only problem was that there were no atom bombs back then. The explosion killed all the people within a mile or two. It also sent a strong wind that went about ten miles.  
  
When the dust cleared, Lu Bu's legs were shaking hard as he pushed his halberd with all his might. Zhao Yun already had a knee down, not being able to take the pressure, but giving all the strength he had as well. Then Lu Bu stopped putting in strength and said, "I'll let you go for today, Zhao Yun. But next time we meet, we'll fight to the end."  
  
"Of course, Lu Bu. Just what I wanted."  
  
Then Zhao Yun saw Lu Bu walk back to Nak Yang. Zhao Yun also walked back tiredly to the way Sun Ce and Diao Chan had gone to. His chest and back had stopped bleeding, but there was a giant wound of red left there. He started walking slower and he went under a tree and started resting. Feeling dizzier and dizzier, Zhao Yun finally overcame the pain and fell into a peaceful sleep.  
  
  
  
Zhao Yun woke up shirtless and covered with bandages around his chest and back. He was in some kind of hut, sometime around night. There was only a blanket around him and Zhao Yun still felt dizzy. He couldn't see the blurred figure moving around the hut. The sweet fragrance was coming from the person and when his view got clearer, it was no other than the beautiful Diao Chan. She noticed that Zhao had gained his consciousness. She ran over to him and got on her knees in front where Zhao Yun lay and tears spilled across her beautiful face.  
  
"I'm so sorry! You risked your life just to save my life! Lu Bu could have killed you! The fight was so incredible. . .I wanted to help you, but Sun Ce wouldn't let me. It was stupid of me trying to run away while Lu Bu was following me. If I just stayed where I was, none of this would've happened. I just wanted to follow you, away from Doug Zhou and Lu Bu." She continued crying and it hurt Zhao Yun even more to see Diao Chan cry. As he saw the tears stream down, he felt his two scars burn as if on fire. It hurt even more than any attack Lu Bu could've given him. It was sadness, Diao Chan's sadness.  
  
"Diao Chan!" Zhao yelled so loudly that Diao Chan looked surprised and she stopped crying as well. Then he grabbed her small shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace. Her expression had 'shocked' written all over it, but she didn't try to pull away, which was a good sign. They stayed locked with their embrace for a long time. At first, Diao Chan still had signs of sniffling, but it ceased after a little while.  
  
Zhao Yun loosened his embrace and looked at her.  
  
"You all right now?"  
  
Diao Chan stared at him with her beautiful eyes and nodded. Just then, Sun Ce came inside, carrying an armful of firewood with him.  
  
"Hey, Zhao Yun! You're up now!"  
  
They were eating Diao Chan's cooking, which tasted good and reminded Zhao Yun of home. They talked about what had happened earlier in the day.  
  
"We have the Red Hare with us. It followed us after you sent it. Then we were going to go south, but Diao Chan refused to leave without you, so we stayed at a forest and watched the fight from a distance. Diao Chan cried like heck when Lu Bu slashed you two times. Even I thought you were dead for a moment. You guys were pretty close to the trees by the time you stopped running away. Then the battle was really something to see and we had to hide in the ground when the explosion stared. Then when we saw you and Lu Bu call a truce and we saw you faint by a tree. Then when we saw Lu Bu go back inside Nak Yang, we took you and walked for like 8 hours, getting away. You were damn heavy and I had to carry you for a damn long time. But heck, that battle with Lu Bu was like a fight that comes every few dynasties.  
  
Zhao Yun nodded slowly as he finished his soup.  
  
"So where are we now?"  
  
"Quiet far away. I think we're somewhere around the area of Dong Ping. We made good time since we had the horses. There's a castle that belongs to Cao Cao's near here. So we'll leave by daylight tomorrow, so we won't be seen by some of his idiots. You'll be well enough tomorrow to ride on a horse."  
  
  
  
It was next morning and Zhao Yun woke up and saw Sun Ce sleeping on the floor and Diao Chan sleeping next to him. He sat up quickly and it was then when he noticed his pain had lessened a lot from yesterday. Zhao Yun just stared at Diao Chan's beautiful face for a long time. Then when Zhao Yun noticed how much time had passed, he got up and started warming up his injured body. He took a few light swings with his spear and took a deep breath.  
  
Zhao Yun exercised for a few more hours until it was almost noon. He was about to go back inside when he heard something approaching this area. Sensing danger, Zhao Yun ran in and woke Diao Chan and Sun Ce up. Then after telling them that someone was coming, Zhao Yun grabbed his armor and put it on. He dashed out and waited for the sound, coming closer. Then he knew what it was. Soldiers. The soldier's footsteps could be now heard clearly. He started seeing soldiers and horses. Then on a black horse, Zhao Yun saw a man with a white turban on his head and had a white cloak down to his legs, making him look like an Arabian prince. He was now in view of Zhao Yun and he stopped.  
  
The man got off his horse and walked towards Zhao Yun. He looked bigger than he was with the long, big axe next to him. He had about twenty soldiers around him, who looked like bodyguards.  
  
"You must be Zhao Yun."  
  
Zhao Yun looked carefully at him, making sure to remember him. However, Zhao Yun probably figured that it'd be hard to find someone with a white turban on his head somewhere in China.  
  
"What if I am Zhao Yun?"  
  
The man bowed his head formally to Zhao Yun and he said, "Zhao Yun, it is a pleasure meeting you. My name is Xu Huang."  
  
How'd you guys like Chapter 4? More coming up later!!!!! PLZ R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	5. Uniting for the Han

Chapter 5: Uniting for the Han

Xu Huang was inside the hut Zhao Yun was staying. They were drinking tea as they were talking about small things, like how they became how they were, family, and the weather as well.

After Zhao Yun explained his story from Chang-san to his fight with Lu Bu, Xu Huang said, "I know about your fight with Lu Bu. Some of Cao Cao's soldiers saw you and called you Lu Bu's equal. You also seem to be the cause of a few deaths from villages, who died from some explosion.

Zhao Yun lowered his head and said, "I'm terribly sorry for that mishap."

Xu Huang laughed and said, "No, no, not at all. I'm sure it was because of the fight. You probably didn't mean to do it."

They laughed and talked about some other things, but Xu Huang started talking about his past. Xu Huang came from Ha Dong, a small village by the river, about a month's walk from Wan. He grew up with the Guan Yu, the god of War there and they learned from the same teacher and they had been friends until Guan Yu went east to start selling salt for a living. However, that didn't go to well for him so Guan Yu went to Liu Bei. Meanwhile. Xu Huang himself had been under someone else until his lord decided to stick with Dong Zhou. So he was on his way to Cao Cao to serve him.

"So Zhao Yun, I've heard of everything you did in the Yellow Turban rebellion and your fight with Lu Bu made me decide that I want to fight against you."

Sun Ce, who had been listening while pretending to wash the dishes with Diao Chan. After hearing, Sun Ce's eyes turned bigger as he stopped cleaning his plate to hear Zhao Yun's answer.

"Xu Huang, it'd be a pleasure. But don't think I'll go easy on you."

"I wasn't expecting you to. Let's go."

Twenty minutes later, there were a few hundred of Xu Huang's soldiers getting ready to watch the fight. Xu Huang held up his axe as Zhao Yun lifted his spear gently.

Sun Ce stomped on the ground, making the ground shudder. This marked the start of the fight, so Xu Huang took the first move with a huge slash with axe and even though Zhao Yun blocked it off, Xu Huang was very strong. Zhao Yun felt that if he carried this fight on too long, he had a chance of losing.

Xu Huang took another strike through the bottom. Taken by surprised, Zhao Yun jumped up high to dodge Xu Huang's axe. While in mid-air, Zhao Yun took things to his advantage and did a flip and struck his spear onto the ground, starting a slight earthquake and that took Xu Huang off his foot. Zhao Yun decided to let Xu Huang get to his foot again. Xu Huang seemed to have been shocked by Zhao Yun's power and Xu Huang swung his axe anywhere around him, creating power waves that knocked Zhao Yun off his foot.

Zhao Yun then went into his real attacks and started swinging at Xu Huang like crazy. Xu Huang was just barely blocking off the attacks, but Xu Huang suddenly had this blue aura around him. Then he started swinging like crazy like Zhao Yun and Zhao Yun could feel cold win from the blue aura that surrounded Xu Huang and his axe. When Zhao Yun and Xu Huang's weapon collided, Zhao Yun's weapon froze up. Before Zhao Yun froze up as well, Zhao Yun pulled back his weapon which was as heavy as a block of ice.

Then Zhao Yun felt tired, but felt another small wave of power flow inside him. Then he saw his frozen body starting to melt and his weapon started melting as well. It started getting hotter and hotter as Zhao Yun and his weapon was on fire. With the strength of fire, he started attacking Xu Huang and he was far better off this time. He saw Xu Huang having trouble holding his axe that was getting hotter by the moment. Zhao Yun figured that his weapon would've burned away to ashes by now, but it just looked for shiny and stronger. Then Zhao Yun took one final slash sent Xu Huang flying to the ground and it destroyed Xu Huang's weapon into pieces. Xu Huang was lying down on the ground without a weapon, so Zhao Yun stopped attacking and helped Xu Huang up to his feet.

"You were great."

Xu Huang still looked shocked and he stared at Zhao Yun as if he had just walked down from the sky. Then getting to his knees, he said, "Lord Zhao Yun, allow me to serve you!"

Zhao Yun had hoped for a general like Xu Huang, so he said, "Welcome to the team, Xu Huang."

Zhao Yun took Xu Huang along with Sun Ce and Diao Chan. Then they headed back towards their land of Wu to gain power again. On their way, Xu Huang and Zhao Yun talked to each other a lot and they became very good friends. Xu Huang let Zhao Yun on the latest news. Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Bei were oath brothers and they had started a small castle of their own at Ping Won. Then there was Sun Jian way down at Jiang Dong. Dong Zhou was making his land bigger and bigger. So Cao Cao was planning on starting a united force against Dong Zhou.

"I think I'll have to be a part of the forces as well. He's taking control of the emperor and doing as he pleases."

It took them a little over a month arrive at Wu again. Zhou Chang, Liu Buk, Zhao Mi, and 100,000 soldiers waiting for them in front of Wu castle.

"Lord, we're glad you've arrived safely."

Zhao Yun nodded and said, "Xu Huang, get ready for a fight against Dong Zhou. Cao Cao's messenger should arrive any day. Get more men to become soldiers from the castle."

"Yes, my lord."

"Sun Ce, help Xu Huang. Liu Buk, Zhou Chang, you two prepare weapons, armors, and food for the soldiers."

Sun Ce nodded and Liu Buk and Zhou Chang said, "As you wish, my lord."

Zhao Mi, you draw a map of the castle Dong Zhou has and get strategies ready. Here's a list of the generals under Dong Zhou. Read about them and see how we can get them off guard, their good and bad points, and you know the rest. Diao Chan, follow me and I'll take you two your room."

Diao Chan looked happy, following Zhao Yun inside the palace. Zhao Yun led Diao Chan into one of the biggest rooms in the castle. It wasn't as big as the one in Nak Yang, but Diao Chan was pleased.

"Diao Chan, sorry if the room is not as good as the one in Nak Yang. The palace isn't as big as the one back there, but if you just give me some time here at Wu, I'll make the palace just as big."

Diao Chan stared at him with her beautiful eyes that shined like the moon.

"Zhao Yun, you know very well I don't mind about the size of the palace. I just mind if Zhao Yun's with me or not."

Zhao Yun blushed and scratched his head. Then he said the first thing that came to his mind to leave the room.

"Uh. . . I better help Sun Ce and Xu Huang recruit soldiers. We'll have to get ready to fight.

Diao Chan looked a little sad, but she said, "Sure. Go ahead."

Leaving the room, Zhao Yun thought it was a good start. Then very high in spirit, Zhao Yun walked down the palace to where Sun Ce and Xu Huang were shouting their lungs out, recruiting soldiers.

Three weeks passed and it was the first day of August. It was starting to get so hot that the soldier's spirits were half dead. Zhao Yun, Sun Ce, and Xu Huang recruited about 20000 soldiers, giving them 120000 soldiers. Zhao Yun started the first day of August, waking up around 10 in the morning. He saw that he was the first one up in the palace other than the servants. After a good meal, he met with Cao Cao's messenger, who arrived late last night.

"Lord Zhao Yun, I have brought a message from Lord Cao Cao."

"Very well. Read it to me."

The messenger stood up and read with his clear, loud voice.

"The emperor and the Han is being controlled under Dong Zhou's power. Dong Zhou is using the emperor as a tool of power. As people of Han, we can't allow such a thing to happen. Dong Zhou is no different to Zhang Jiao, trying to take Han instead of saving it. I send this to every lord in Han. Let us unite and be one until we see the end of Dong Zhou's forces!"

Zhao Yun just knew this would happen, so Zhao Yun said, "Tell Cao Cao that I'll go as soon as possible."

The messenger gave a bow to Zhao Yun and left. Zhao Yun sat at the meeting room for another 30 minutes, thinking about what would happen in the future. Then Zhao Yun left the room to go to Sun Ce's room.

From the smell of whiskey, Sun Ce must've drank last night. Then he also saw one of the palace servant girls sleeping naked next to Sun Ce.

Zhao Yun kind of figured out what must've happened last night and just gave a heavy sigh. Sun Ce was good at fighting, but he was dull at times. He left the room and decided to talk about attacking Dong Zhou.

Xu Huang wasn't at his room, but Zhao Yun found him shirtless meditating under one of the waterfalls Zhao Yun enjoyed meditating as well.

"Xu Huang, I see you've found my meditation waterfall."

Xu Huang jumped from the waterfall and bowed to Zhao Yun.

"Lord, I must be killed for my sin, using my lord's meditation fall."

"Xu Huang, is it a sin to use nature together? In nature, there is no someone's something. Everybody is free to use nature as long as we give it care."

Zhao Yun also took off his palace robes and meditated with Xu Huang.

It was afternoon when he called all his generals for a meeting. When everybody came, Zhao Yun told everyone of the messenger.

"So, Liu Buk and Zhou Chang. . .is all the weapons and armor ready?"

Liu Buk nodded and said, "All ready to go, sir."

Zhao Yun looked at Zhao Mi and asked, "Zhao Mi, are you done with our strategy maps and everything?"

Zhao Mi smiled and said, "Almost. I can do the rest on the way there."

"Excellent. Oh, and Diao Chan. . ."

Not having given Diao Chan a job to do, Diao Chan was taken by surprise and said, "Uh. . . yes?"

Zhao smiled and said, "How's your room?"

Diao Chan smiled again, making Zhao Yun just stare at her.

"Great. Just great."

The next day, Zhao Yun took Xu Huang, Sun Ce, Zhao Mi, and Diao Chan with him and he left Liu Buk and Zhou Chang at Wu. Zhao Yun had planned to leave Diao Chan at Wu and Xu Huang as well to protect her, but she grabbed on the Zhao Yun and wouldn't let go until he allowed her to go along.

The soldiers spirits were pretty low, but Zhao Yun was hoping to raise their spirits after their victory against Dong Zhou. Zhao Yun took 60,000 soldiers and left the other 60,000 soldiers back at Wu.

It took them a long time to get to Jin Liu where Cao Cao's castle was. It took them a long two months to bring the 60000 soldiers. Zhao Yun was the fourth to arrive. Yuan Shao, Liu Bei and Gongson Zan had already arrived. 13 other lords had decided to come as well.

While waiting for the other lords to arrive, Zhao Yun took the chance to raise his soldiers morale by increasing their food, since they had enough to last a year. It took another month for all the lords to arrive.

Cao Cao stood at the center and said, "I have called all these heroes around Han, because we must stop Dong Zhou before he goes any farther. Now let's pick a leader above the lords. Personally, I think Lord Yuan Shao should become our leader. He has 200,000 soldiers at his side along with many generals."

Most of the lords agreed to this and they all lifted a cup of rice wine and drank to defeating Dong Zhou.

Sun Ce wasn't a lord, but he begged the lords for the rice wine, so Sun Ce drank as well as the other lords ate and talked to each other, smiling and laughing.

A week later, they were at Si Shui Gate, nobody smiling. Yuan Shao was back at camp and there was lord Sun Jian, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Zhao Yun himself. Zhao Yun's soldiers were at the back, because Zhao didn't get a chance to prove to Yuan Shao that their forces were strong enough to fight against Dong Zhou's forces. He looked from a hill and saw Hua Xiong fighting with Sun Jian's troops. It was night and it seemed Hua Xiong gave a surprise attack at Sun Jian's troops, making them retreat. It was Sun Jian's fault that he didn't ask Zhao Yun for food supplies. Instead, he asked Yuan Shao's brother, Yuan Shul. Yuan Shul was jealous of Sun Jian, so he didn't sent food supplies, making Sun Jian lose in starvation.

Cao Cao called for Liu Bei and Zhao Yun to accompany him in the front lines. Cao Cao sent Xiahou Dun to Hua Xiong, but Xiahou Dun lost forcing the united forces to retreat about 5 miles. Zhao Yun decided to go see Cao Cao for a chance to do something.

Cao Cao was alone in the tent and Zhao Yun entered as Cao Cao looked up.

"Ah, lord Zhao Yun. I wanted to have a talk with you."

Zhao Yun sat down as Cao Cao gave him some tea. After pouring a helping for him, Cao Cao started talking.

"I'm a little worried that there will be trouble with Hua Xiong. Even my trusted general and friend Xiahou Dun lost to him. If we don't beet Hua Xiong quickly, we're sure to lose."

Seeing Cao Cao's serious face, Zhao Yun couldn't help admire him.

"Lord Cao Cao, I was unhappy when Yuan Shao didn't put me in the front lines to fight against Hua Xiong. My men and my generals can stay behind the lines, but I can defeat Hua Xiong alone."

Cao Cao hesitated and looked as if thinking about the best descision. If they even lost the better tomorrow, it'd be beyond repair to win. Cao Cao surely had heard of Zhao Yun defeating the Yellow Turbans. He had sent all the generals he could, but they had all lost. Cao Cao closed his eyes and said, " Lord Zhao Yun, be prepared at the front lines tomorrow at noon."

Zhao Yun tried to hide his glee and bid Cao Cao good night.

The next morning, Zhao Yun woke up half excited and half nervous. He quickly got his armor and spear ready. Then with his Red Hare, he practiced fighting on horseback and on foot. Then at noon, the united force and Dong Zhou's forces looked at each other as the hot sun shined on the soldiers, but noone looked tired, because this was the battle that would change the future, change life and death, and change Han's fate. Hua Xiong stood in front of Dong Zhou's forces and waited for his next challenger.

"I see you idiots haven't retreated yet! Well, I'll make you regret it!"

Hua Xiong rode on his horse and went for the soldiers, but he saw a long spear block his slash. Confused, he looked around and he saw a handsome man on Lu Bu's Red Hare. He dumbly stared at Zhao Yun and said, "Seeing the Red Hare, you must be Zhao Yun!"

Zhao Yun stared Hua Xiong down and said, "What if I am?"

"YOU! I shall defeat the one who didn't lose to Lu Bu and I will be equal with Lu Bu myself by killing you!"

Hua Xiong didn't even give a warning and took a slash aiming right at Zhao Yun's neck. Zhao Yun ducked and poked Hua Xiong during the slash. Hua Xiong looked shocked as he coughed some blood. Pulling back, he said, "I see you're as strong as I've heard. You're the first man other than Lu Bu to give me a wound. However, I won't have anyone alive wound me! DIE!"

Hua Xiong's body was covered with fire and he slashed madly, killing all the soldiers within 5 meters of Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun blocked off the fire and as soon as Hua Xiong finished his combination of slashes, Zhao Yun aimed for another poke in the stomach making Hua Xiong fall off his horse. Hua Xiong looked shocked and then turned mad trying to slash anything in his path, including Zhao Yun's Red Hare.

Sensing danger, Zhao Yun got off his Red Hare and took a great, wide slash cutting Hua Xiong's spear in half. Hua Xiong sounded a little scared and said, "Let's fight like a man! Fist to fist!"

Zhao Yun heard a few voices behind him saying, "You got him! All you have to do is kill him now!" After hesitating, Zhao Yun gave his weapon to a soldier behind him. Hua Xiong's scared face suddenly turned into a malicious face and he gave a punch with power in it. The punch hit Zhao Yun's chest and Zhao Yun fell over, coughing up blood. Then he felt Hua Xiong pin Zhao Yun down with his knees. Then he continued punching repeatedly at Zhao Yun's face. Zhao Yun felt unlimited pain as he could only see red, since his eyes were covered with blood all over. Then Zhao Yun could feel something in his chest glow and it was giving him power everywhere. The first thing Zhao Yun did was block Hua Xiong's two hands with one of his hand and whomped Hua Xiong on the cheekbone, making a cracking sound that echoed around the battlefield. Getting up, he waited for Hua Xiong to get up. He felt his body getting hotter and hotter and the blood on his body was boiling, too, Then when Hua Xiong Zhao Yun hit him with about five punches in the face, followed up with a kick down the middle, finishing off with jumping and putting his elbow down hard on his face, connecting with the nerve cells. Hua Xiong never got up again.

Cao Cao took the chance and sent his men to chase Dong Zhou's forces. Zhao Yun was so hyped up that he followed the chase, killing men with his bare fists. Then Dong Zhou's forces left Si Shui Gate and Cao Cao happily put up the United Han flag that proudly waved on top of the Si Shui Gate.

That night, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Zhao Yun's generals ate and drank at Si Shui Gate.

Cao Cao laughed and said, "Thanks to lord Zhao Yun, we have gotten rid of Hua Xiong! HAHAHAHAHA!"

They all had a toast and started drinking. Zhao Yun went to the tallest watch tower in the area and he stared at the faint outline of Hu Lao Gate.

Then he saw Liu Bei come up behind him. Zhao Yun bowed and said, "Lord Liu Bei, what brings you here?"

Liu Bei smiled and said, "I wanted to take a look at our next destination." He stared at Hu Lao Gate and sighed.

"Lord Zhao Yun, I had only heard of your tremendous skills. I didn't believe any of it until today."

"Lord Liu Bei, I think you speak too highly of me. All this time, I'm only guessing that I've had a lot of luck."

"Even luck determines the outcome of a battle, life and death, and also the fate of the Han. Lord Zhao Yun, do you not have any thoughts on joining me?"

Zhao Yun stayed quiet. He looked calm on the outside, but he panicked inside.

"Lord Liu Bei, I have an army, a home, a castle, and a few faithful generals just like you Lord Liu Bei. The heavens gave me all this to save the Han."

Liu Bei just stared out into the sky and said, "But aren't the countries in the Han United all want to save the Han? Our goals are the same."

"Yes, that's true. However, the heavens will give Han to one of the many lords. I will stay as a lord until I lose everything I have, knowing that the heavens have thrown me away."

Liu Bei looked a little shocked and said, "Lord Zhao Yun you speak the right and so well that I guess I don't have anything to say except that I do hope the heavens will throw you away and send you to me."

With those words, Liu Bei left the watch tower, leaving Zhao Yun with very confused thoughts.

Zhao Yun stayed at the watch tower, looking at Hu Lao Gate until midnight. Then he came down and he walked towards Si Shui Gate. When he was a few hundred yards away, Zhao Yun could feel something follow him. Then he walked a little slower, keeping his ears alert. He could hear very light footsteps a few meters away from him. He looked around him and he was in a plain, except for an old oak tree next to him. Zhao Yun knew what was to happen as he saw a cloaked figure come down at him with a sword. Zhao Yun grabbed the hilt of the sword and rolled around with the figure fighting for the sword. Then the figure kneed him in Zhao Yun's private spot, making him let go of the hilt. Then the figure stood up and put the sword down on the ground, where Zhao Yun's head had been a few moments ago. Zhao Yun rolled and kept on rolling until he found a good spot to get up. He surprised his attacker by getting up without using his hands. Then he dodged the coming sword again and gave it a double kick on the face. His attacker fell and Zhao Yun quickly took his sword. Then as his attacker, who was wearing all black got up, Zhao Yun put the sword on its neck.

The person was in frozen position when he saw it do a backward flip five times. Then it took something that looked out black pointy stars. His attacker took five of those out and threw them one by one in incredible speed. Zhao Yun somehow blocked out four of them with the sword. Then the last one hit his right arm, putting Zhao down. His attacker fled as Zhao Yun tried to get back up. He saw the long, curved sword he had taken from his attacker. It looked pretty strong, so he took that and the five stars that the attacker threw at him. Then he slowly got up and saw the last of his attacker running away, almost jumping from tree to tree and then disappearing under the full moon.


	6. The Girl from Silla

Chapter 6

Zhao Yun had a hard time walking from the wound he received from the shooting stars. He made it to Si Shui Gate and called for help. Diao Chan, who apparently had been waiting for him took him to the hospital tent. The doctors told Zhao Yun that the wound was poisoned, because the stars were covered with poison. It didn't have effect outside of the skin, but if you ate it or it somehow went inside your body, it'd have a poison effect. They had to cut off a pretty big part of Zhao Yun's skin from his right arm. Then they covered it in bandages and told him that he wouldn't be able to use his right arm as strong as he was able to for a month or so. He stayed in one of the tent beds with Diao Chan, because there were no beds in Si Shui Gate. Cao Cao and Liu Bei went to see him.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei looked worried as they entered the tent.

"Zhao Yun, are you all right?"

Zhao Yun said, "Lord Cao Cao, I'm terribly sorry I got into an accident when we have an important fight tomorrow."

"No, no. Liu Bei and I are more worried about your health. What happened? Liu Bei told me that you were perfectly fine a few hours ago."

"I was attacked by some black cloaked figure."

Liu Bei and Cao Cao's expressions darkened and said, "It must've been an assassinator of Dong Zhou's. Dammit!"

"It wasn't any assassinator. It had a curved sword, something not _made in China_. It also threw these three stars at me.

Cao Cao examined the stars and put them back down.

"These stars are from the mysterious land east, a land not of this continent. It is consisted of many islands with four big ones. There are very few of those people seen coming and going. They are skilled with swords and throwing at targets. They think more highly of honor than their lives and the last thing they'd do is betray their master. I have always wanted to have one on my side that'd never betray me, but those warriors come disguised in black, so we call them ninja."

Zhao Yun thought of that black-cloaked figure and remembered its shining eyes, not very tough or manly at all. It had been a small figure, pretty quick and showed very delicate movement, just like a ninja.

Next day, Zhao Yun had a hard time getting into his armor and horse. He received permission from the doctor to fight as long as he didn't fight generals and stay in the back line. Dong Zhou's forces had come to Si Shui Gate to take it back. Then all the general's worst fears came to life. Out in the front, was Lu Bu.

The United forces looked scared just looking at Lu Bu. Lu Bu laughed and charged at the generals and picked Gongson Zan first. Gongson Zan tried fighting against him, but retreated after a few swings. Then other generals ran in to attack Lu Bu, only to get their heads flown off.

"Is this the force that defeated Hua Xiong and took our Si Shui Gate? This is truly humiliating! Isn't there anyone stronger?"

Zhao Yun tried to dash out, but Cao Cao stopped him.

"Lord Zhao Yun, fighting Lu Bu now will hurt you physically and mentally. You should beat him while you're in best of condition. If you try to fight because of a few words from the mouth, you'll end up on the ground headless."

Zhao Yun stopped and looked at the empty battlefield on their side where no general could come out. Finally, Zhang Bei, who was one of Liu Bei's oath brothers came out and took a swing at Lu Bu. (I forgot Zhang Bei's weapon!!!) Lu Bu and Zhang Bei's weapon clashed a few times and Lu Bu looked impressed and said, "You should've come out sooner!"

Lu Bu, looking confident started overpowering Zhang Bei, little by little. Just then, Guan Yu, Liu Bei's other oath brother went out to help Zhang Bei.

"Lu Bu face the wrath of my Blue Moon Dragon!" (I don't think that's right, either.)

Lu Bu looked a little more stressed as he fought the two strong generals. Zhao Yun was surprised at how strong Zhang Bei and Guan Yu were. If he fought against them, he knew he would surely lose. Whenever he was in hard times, he always felt this strong power come inside of him, but he wanted to use it freely, whenever he wanted to. As Zhao Yun was thinking, Liu Bei had accompanied Guan Yu and Zhang Bei. However, Liu Bei was probably fighting Lu Bu like that, because Guan Yu and Zhang Bei had his back. Lu Bu now really seemed struggling and he gave a slash at the weakest Liu Bei, making him back off, giving room for Lu Bu. Then Lu Bu shot away with his new horse, which was pretty good. (Not as good as Red Hare) Then Dong Zhou's forces were pushed back all the way to Hu Lao Gate. Then Zhao Yun ran over quicker than anyone else and from a distance, he shot to arrows at once and killed the two gate guards, who were watching their forces retreat on top of the gate. The soldiers yelled for the guards to open the gates, but nobody opened it. Then Dong Zhou's forces started running away everywhere. Finally, Dong Zhou's big force fell in the battle of Hu Lao Gate.

That night, Zhao Yun practiced fighting with Sun Ce.

"Hey Zhao Yun, you seem a lot better. You should start fighting again tomorrow!"

"Yeah. . . I should."

Then it was past midnight and the full moon shined brightly on Zhao Yun. Sun Ce had gone to bed a long time ago, (probably with a girl) and Zhao Yun continued practicing with his spear. Then he felt weird all around him. It reminded him of last night and he could feel something coming. Closing his eyes, he felt for it instead of looking for it. Then feeling it a few meters away from his side, he turned and barely blocked off the ninja stars from last night. This time, the ninja looked a little more prepared with a pretty long sword. It wasn't as thin as a rapier, but not as thick as a broadsword. The ninja ran around with the sword gracefully and Zhao Yun suddenly wanted that sword. A sword that length and width. . . that was the kind of sword he liked. Then the ninja suddenly ran towards Zhao Yun and attempted an attack. Then Zhao Yun used one of his strongest slash attack, creating a small tornado. The ninja was caught in the tornado, but landed on its feet.

Then it ran towards Zhao Yun again. Zhao Yun got ready to take a slash, but it disappeared right in front of his eyes. Then it appeared right behind Zhao Yun and slashed his back. Zhao Yun fell on his knees and felt the pain slowly cover his body. Zhao Yun could feel the ninja coming in for the finishing move, Zhao Yun dived away just in time. He could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. The ninja seemed to watch slowly as Zhao Yun felt dizzy from loss of blood. Then he knew this blow would be his last. Zhao Yun concentrated the best he could, and he could feel some of the power from his body going inside the spear.

Zhao Yun was surprised on how he did that and tried to put more power inside. It was a strange feeling, but his spear felt lighter than ever and it was surrounded with a colorless aura. Then Zhao Yun grinned and took another slash at the ninja from a long distance. This time a big tornado came out from the spear and carried the ninja pretty far away. Now even the ninja looked exhausted and tried to finish Zhao Yun off. Zhao Yun felt that his tornado was strong, but it wasn't enough. He concentrated a little bit more and shot out everything he had. Then in front of his eyes, a fire tornado went for the ninja and carried the ninja once more. When the ninja escaped the fire tornado, it fell to its knees from burns and exhaustion. Zhao Yun felt power going inside of him from learning a new technique. Then the ninja slowly got up and grinned. Then holding its sword, Zhao Yun could feel power from the sword. Then the ninja leaped and shot out black boomerangs and Zhao Yun fell over defending himself. Then he saw his spear covered with fire just like from the fight with Xu Huang. Then he saw the ninja's word covered with darkness, somewhat similar to him. Then instead of putting power into his spear, he stored in his heart and made it come to one spot. He wasn't sure on what he was doing, but he felt that he could do something. Then using all the strength from his heart and spear he let out another attack at the ninja. This fire tornado was 10 times bigger than the one he made from his spear. Then from the tornado, a red dragon came out and attacked the ninja. The ninja looked shocked and just stayed there and then it retreated a short distance to concentrate on power and it sent out a big beam of darkness, and the beam turned into a black dragon.

The black dragon was the strongest dragon in the history of China and Zhao Yun had only heard of stories what this dragon had done in the past. It had disappeared a long time ago when it fought its last battle with the Gold Dragon. The Black dragon let out some darkness from its mouth and Zhao Yun couldn't see anything but darkness. Then he saw the Black dragon attacking from no where. Zhao Yun dodged just in time, but the dragon's teeth had lightly hit Zhao Yun's left arm, almost ripping it off.

Zhao Yun saw his arm and felt helpless in the darkness. Then he decided to try one last attack. Gathering power again, he shot out another tornado, but this was just a big tornado without any fire. Then the Light Blue Dragon came out just like last time. Then the Light Blue Dragon and the Red Dragon suddenly started to spin around together and attack the Black Dragon. Even in the darkness, Zhao Yun could see the two dragons slowly fighting the darkness. Then when it was far away, it looked as if it was becoming one. Then he saw the Red Dragon and the Light Blue Dragon disappear to create a big light. Then it created a big light and the legendary Gold Dragon appeared.

The golden light sucked up all the darkness and it was now almost time for sunrise. The two dragons faced each other as the sky turned brighter and brighter.

Then the golden dragon sucked all the darkness around it and the sky was getting lighter and lighter. Then the Gold dragon shot out some golden light beams at the Black Dragon. Now the Black Dragon looked a lot weaker. Then the two dragons collided in mid-air creating an explosion; half with golden light and the other half with darkness. It kept on pushing each other, but the golden light started to beat the darkness and the two dragons disappeared with another explosion. Zhao Yun grinned and ran over to the ninja and gave it a punch in the stomach while the ninja was just watching the dragons fight. Then the ninja gave a girlish yell and fell. Zhao Yun smiled and took her back to the camp. When he was looking towards the camp, he saw the whole army and generals just stare right at Zhao Yun as if they had seen golden coins fall from the sky.

They were back in the camp and Diao Chan was watching as the camp nurse treated Zhao Yun's wounds. Zhao Yun flinched a lot as the nurse started to cut away all the dead skin on Zhao Yun's back. Then after being covered with lots and lots of bandages, Zhao Yun cautiously walked towards where the ninja was being nursed. Zhao Yun had to walk real slow, because of the blood coming out of his back. Then he saw that the ninja was a pretty girl, almost as pretty as Diao Chan. She had long hair that had been tied up into a ball while dressed as a ninja. Her eyes were closed, but her small, delicate face shined in the morning sunlight. As Zhao Yun looked down to the body, somebody said, "Hmmm, pretty good body for a face so small."

Zhao Yun's hair stood on the end and felt blood rushing out of his back more than usual, reddening the many layers of bandages on his back. It was Sun Ce.

"Hey, Zhao Yun! I can't believe you had all this fun last night without me! I see you got a pretty one, too. It'd be hard to pick from Diao Chan and ninja girl. Seeing that she didn't tie up her hair like Diao Chan and other girls from our country, it's obvious that she's not from anywhere around here. Hey Zhao Yun, let's go get a bite."

Zhao Yun hesitated and said, "Sure why not?"

Then giving the ninja girl one last look, he left the hospital tent.

.

It was noon and Zhao Yun and Sun Ce did the duck-style walk.

Sun Ce looked around and said, "Damn, I haven't eaten this much since. . . since. . . I dunno, but it's been a long time.

Sun Ce went to take a nap and Zhao Yun went over to the hospital tent. There, he saw the beautiful ninja girl sitting up, drinking some tea.

Zhao Yun went over to her and the girl stopped drinking and flinched, but calmed down. Then she got out of her bed and gave a bow to Zhao Yun.

"Allow me to serve you, master."

Zhao Yun stared at her and said, "Who are you?"

The girl ninja gently said, "My name is Sung Mina. I come from the country of Silla (a country that is now the southern part of South Korea). I was taken to another land as captives when I was 5 years old. My parents died resisting to them. It was a country made up of four big islands. I lived my life under a strict family in that country and started speaking their tongue. However, I concentrated my life on martial arts and swords to return to my country where the rest of my family was. So I became a ninja, a high rank position in that country. Ninja usually use stealth and speed to attack their enemies. We're usually sent to different areas, mostly for assassinating. We use ninja stars with poison, a sword I think you have seen, and a spear that has equal sharp ends on each side."

Zhao Yun stayed and just said, "Hmmm. . .please continue. What happened next?"

Sung Mina took a breath and continued talking.

"I'm 15 right now. (Zhao Yun was surprised, because he was 16) I became a ninja when I was 10 years old. That's when you can officially start. However, it takes at least 2030 years for a normal person to become one of the top ninjas, but it took me 23 years. Then I started the hard missions that were given to me. Then my next mission was to kill an important person under the king of Silla, my country. Having gained a lot of trust from my leader, I set off to Silla with 4 ninjas to help me out. I was happy to be home and felt uncomfortable killing a person from my own country. So I just decided to take this chance to go back to my country. So when I tried to escape, I ended up fighting the ninjas that followed me. Then after I killed them, my leader sent troops after me to attack Silla. My country was attacked and we were spread throughout our area, without any home. When the survivors and the king gathered in one of my hidden hideouts, he first blamed everything on me and said he'd forgive me if I became one of his concubines, but when I refused him and the rest of the people chased me out of Silla, because the troops had attacked because of me. So I was chased out, not welcomed back to the four island country or my home country. So I rode on a trading boat and came to this big land, looking for an owner to serve. It's been a year since they kicked me out. . . but I want to go home. . ."

Tears flowed over Sung Mina's face as she went over the nightmares in her head that started when she was only a little kid. The girl who had threw poison darts at him, the one who slashed his back with great sword skills was this beautiful girl who had a darker past than anyone before. Zhao Yun stayed silent sitting down with his arms crossed and head down. Then he walked over to Sung Mina was and put his hands over her tears and gave her a warm hug. Sung Mina stopped crying when Zhao Yun hugged her and when Zhao Yun let her go, she stared at Zhao Yun's handsome face in a different way from before. Their faces were no more than 5 inches apart.

"You okay?"

Sung Mina's beautiful face looked at Zhao Yun and said, "Yeah. Thanks."

Then she started hugging Zhao Yun again in the hospital tent. They didn't notice another beautiful girl watching them hug.

Zhao Yun had told Sung Mina about his past, which had some sad contents in it here and there. After he told his story, Sung Mina said, "So I'll call start calling you master now. I had been fighting people until I found someone who could defeat me."

Zhao Yun smiled and said, "I did beat you, but I don't want you to be like a servant type. Just call me Zhao Yun and I'll call you . . .Mina. That all right?"

Sung Mina smiled and said, "Sure."

They saw the sunset and noticed how much time had passed.

"Damn! The whole day's finished already! I better go eat dinner. See ya, Mina."

Zhao Yun whistled as he walked towards the mush room and then in the shadows of the Hu Lao Gate, he could see someone crying. Zhao Yun concentrated with his eyes and looked at who it was. When Zhao Yun got close enough to see, he was confused. It was Diao Chan crying.

"Diao Chan?"

Diao Chan looked up and said, "Zhao Yun?"

Then Diao Chan started crying loudly and said, "Get away from me, you ###$!"

At first, Zhao Yun almost had a heart attack from what Diao Chan said and Diao Chan slapped Zhao Yun hard enough to make him bleed. Then she went to her tent sobbing.

Zhao Yun watched Diao Chan go to her tent crying and he shrugged and said, "Women." Then with another heavy sigh Zhao Yun trudged on to the mush room.

How'd you like my next chapter? It's been awhile since I wrote a chapter so I might be outta touch, but PLZ continue to R&R!!!!!


	7. The Rescue of the Emperor

To Reviewer: Thanks for your review, but I think I'm going to write my story my way. You're right about making Sung Mina perfect, that you think. But I'm not going to make Sung Mina like a goddess, like you presume. You shouldn't judge a person by how they look and what they do. You can find more to a person like personality etc. A reader likes such characters like this, but they like to see these characters face a challenge and defeat the challenge or win, no matter how hard it is. So I think you should've read more before writing down a comment like that. So, I suggest you read more before saying anymore, but if you don't like my story that much, I suggest you stop reading.

(Sorry for the long sermon readers, back to the story.)

Chapter 7: The Rescue of the Emperor

Zhao Yun woke up sometime at four in the morning. He yawned and got up stretching his body. It had been about a year already since he had been walking down the mountain at Chang San with Sun Ce when they had made the oath under the tree with the Rose of Sharon. So many things had happened the past year.

A week had passed since they had won the battle of Hu Lao Gate. Zhao Yun was having a good time resting and talking to Mina, but was a little depressed about Diao Chan. Then when Zhao Yun went to eat at the mush room, word was spread that the generals had to meet in the afternoon to discuss battle plans to take over Nak Yang, where the emperor was.

After breakfast, the generals met in Cao Cao's tent and started discussing what their goal was.

"We must take Nak Yang without getting the emperor hurt. So, I think it'd be best if a few men go to Nak Yang to take the emperor out of Nak Yang. If we don't Dong Zhou will probably use him to escape or use ransom, etc. So anyone you sirs recommend?"

Yuan Shao stood up and said, "Cao Cao, you very well know that Han is famous for all of its strong generals, but not many are speedy. However, I would like to recommend my own Zhang He."

Cao Cao slowly nodded and said, "Anyone else?"

Zhao Yun stood up. "I'd like to recommend myself and Sung Mina. All of you very well know that Sung Mina is a fully qualified ninja from the islands of the east. Anyone refuse?"

"Hey Mina, let's get ready! We got to leave tonight!"

Mina started packing lightly and got her ninja clothes ready. Zhao Yun himself tried on the all-black ninja suit and it fit him very well. Mina walked up to him and said, "You look good."

Zhao Yun flushed and walked away, saying he had to go to the bathroom. He did. He breathed in deeply a few times and got the ninja stars ready in his right pocket. Then taking a sword that Mina had given him, he left his tent. Mina had a lot of these ninja swords and Zhao Yun really liked it how they made it.

Zhao Yun was under the Hu Lao Gate and was getting ready to leave when he saw Diao Chan waiting for him at the front gate.

"You really do look good." She smiled and walked towards him.

"Thanks Diao Chan. Uh. . . didn't you slap me just a few days ago?"

"Uh. . . yeah. Sorry about it. I just felt like slapping you."

"Uh. . . sure. Well. . . I'll be back!"

Zhao Yun waved as he saw the small figure of Diao Chan slowly disappear by darkness.

"Now I really don't understand women."

With another sigh, he met up with Mina and Zhang He.

Zhang He came over and said, "Lord Zhao Yun, it is my pleasure to meet you."

"Zhang He, I've heard a lot of stories about you. Shall we?"

Zhang He, Zhao Yun, and Sung Mina dashed through the night where they could see the small figure of the big castle Nak Yang.

They saw hundreds of soldiers on the walls of Nak Yang.

Zhao Yun looked around and said, "They must be expecting us to attack at night. There's probably more inside the castle. This won't be easy as we hoped it to be."

Let's try the south gate. That's seems to be the weakest part of the castle."

Zhao Yun, Zhang He, and Sung Mina looked around Nak Yang castle and looked for places where soldiers didn't go often. They found a small area where soldiers never walked passed around the north gate.

Zhao Yun stared at the same area for 30 minutes and finally said, "That's the place."

It was two in the morning and Zhao Yun, Sung Mina, and Zhang He snuck over to the castle and climbed the walls using a rope. They threw the rope onto a part of the castle wall. Sung Mina went up first and Zhang He and Zhao Yun followed. Then when they saw soldiers coming, they threw some of the ninja stars Sung Mina had. They started running around the castle wall, taking a good look at the inside of Nak Yang. They saw the big palace, which they supposed belonged to the emperor. When they had gone through one whole lap around Nak Yang, Sung Mina was breathing heavily and started coughing.

Zhao Yun went over to her and said, "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just not too good at long distance running."

They rested for 5 minutes and came down from castle wall. Then they silently went up to the palace steps. They saw the big doors with the symbol of a dragon covered with jewels. To their surprise, the door was partly open. Zhao Yun saw this strange as they approached the beam of light coming from the open doors. Then they heard voices. There were two rough voices and two weak voices. The two weak voices, they could tell. The frightened voice was the emperor. Then the second voice was the little brother of the emperor. His voice didn't sound very scared, but it had full confidence in his voice.

"Ah, dear emperor, we have just received orders from Lord Dong Zhou. We are to get rid of you and make your brother the new emperor."

The frightened voice started shaking and said, "Y-You think you can get rid of the emperor?"

Another rough voice said, "Yes, we can."

They heard movements of the voice and heard something go into someone's body.

"Ugh. . .I-I'm the emp-emperor. . ."

The brother of the emperor said, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Just getting rid of the worthless emperor and making you the emperor, your majesty."

"But why must it be me to be the emperor?"

"Your majesties brother was just like a scarecrow. No special skills with him. Not good at martial arts or smart in any way. If we have people like that for an emperor, the people of the land will start a rebellion. We need a smart emperor to help Han continue its long history."

There was silence and finally the young voice replied, "So what am I supposed to do?"

"We will burn the castle of Nak Yang and go to Jang Ahn."

Zhao Yun felt as if a sudden shock wave went through his body. He couldn't believe that Dong Zhou would burn Nak Yang, where millions of peasants lived.

The new emperor seemed shocked, too.

"What? Burn Nak Yang? What about all the peasants living here? They're all my people!"

"Yes, your majesty. We're planning to take them by force to Jang Ahn."

"Are you crazy? There are many old men and women that can't make it from here to Jang Ahn. They'll all die on the way!"

"So then we can just bury them on the way, can't we?"

There was a deadly silence and the emperor said, "Then I'll have to stop you."

"Oh, emperor, please. I don't want to see anymore blood tonight."

There was a sound where one of the rough men got punched on the face by the emperor.

"Why you . . .!"

Then the calm rough voice said, "Hua Xiong, it's the emperor you're talking to."

The other rough man said, "Fine. Then one tiny scratch on the face will do. . ."

The gentle rough voice didn't show any signs to stop, so Zhao Yun cued the two of them to charge in.

Zhao Yun made a large sound to stop Hua Xiong from hurting the emperor.

"Huh? Who the heck are you?"

Hua Xiong looked bewildered at the three black cloaked figures. Zhao Yun was surprised to see that the person next to Hua Xiong and the emperor was Lu Bu.

Lu Bu stepped up and said, "Hua Xiong, you make sure they don't take the emperor. I know they're here for the emperor. Lord Dong Zhou needs the emperor to use incase of an emergency on our escape."

Hua Xiong backed off and Lu Bu stepped up with his Halberd.

Zhao Yun couldn't bring his spear, because it was too heavy to carry around with the ninja suit. He only had the ninja sword, but this sword wasn't a very short sword, either.

Lu Bu started swinging away with his halberd and Zhao Yun knew he didn't have a chance without his spear. Then he shouted, "I'll keep him busy! You take the emperor and escape!"

Zhang He and Sung Mina went into formation position and started attacking Hua Xiong from both sides. Meanwhile, Lu Bu was swinging away madly.

"I don't know who you are, but now that you've seen what we've done, you're not going back alive!"

Zhao Yun couldn't reach Lu Bu's body with the sword, so all he could do was defend him from the halberd. Then he saw Zhang He attacking Hua Xiong and then tried a feint to take the emperor, but Hua Xiong blocked Zhang He away. Then Sung Mina appeared out of nowhere and started beating Hua Xiong up. Then Zhang He took the emperor and said, "Emperor, please don't resist. I have been sent by Yuan Shao and the United Forces of Han. Please follow us."

The emperor nodded and Zhang He jumped through the darkness with the emperor in his arms. Then Sung Mina followed Zhang He to help him get through the soldiers that had awakened due to the ruckus.

Zhao Yun saw Sung Mina and Zhang He escape and tried to find some resting time to escape, but Lu Bu just continued to attack continuously. Zhao Yun could only think of one way to escape. Zhao Yun suddenly dashed into Lu Bu and Lu Bu slashed Zhao Yun with his halberd, leaving a dark red slash on Zhao Yun's chest. Zhao Yun ignored the pain pumping through his heart. Then he dashed in some more and slashed Lu Bu by the legs and arms.

Just like he had planned, Lu Bu fell over in pain and agony, but it was only for a moment. Then Zhao Yun slipped away through the darkness, leaving a cursing Lu Bu who tried to follow Zhao Yun out.

Zhao Yun was outside the castle of Nak Yang and he stopped running and started walking. He started breathing in deeply and walked towards Hu Lao Gate.

The sun was high up in the sky by the time Zhao Yun returned to the camp. As soon as he saw the soldiers of Han, he fainted on the spot dreaming of Diao Chan.

Zhao Yun woke up in the hospital tent and Diao Chan beside him.

Diao Chan smiled and said, "You okay, Zhao Yun?"

"Yeah. You're not gonna slap me anymore?"

"Just wait until you get better! I'll pounds you lots!"

Zhao Yun chuckled and asked, "How about the emperor?"

"Oh, he's inside the Hu Lao Gate."

"How about Mina and Zhang He?"

Diao Chan suddenly had a dark look on her face.

"The emperor arrived here a little before you did. Zhang He and Sung Mina must've kept him from being hurt and they were probably caught and taken away."

"What? They're strong enough to handle themselves out of those little problems! Who were they caught by?"

"I don't know Zhao Yun. It could've possibly been Lu Bu."

"Probably not. I was fighting with Lu Bu and I just ran for it."

"Maybe Lu Bu was going after you, but met up with Zhang He and Sung Mina."

"That's possible. . ."

Diao Chan looked at Zhao Yun with a worried expression on his face.

"Zhao Yun. . .? What are you gonna do?"

"What do you think, I'm going after them."

Zhao Yun put his armor on and left the hospital tent. A few seconds later, Sun Ce came in and said, "Zhao Yun, how's it do. . ."

Diao Chan saw Sun Ce and said, "Sun Ce, quickly go after Zhao Yun! He's turned mad!"

Sun Ce made a U-turn, and as he left he just said, "Roger."

Zhao Yun took Xu Huang and Zhao Mi along with 500 of his best soldiers on horses.

As they were riding towards Nak Yang, Zhao Yun rode over to Zhao Mi.

"Zhao Mi, I haven't seen you for the past month. What's been up?"

Zhao Mi smiled and said, "I've been practicing fighting with a spear."

Zhao Yun chucked and said, "You? Is it going well?"

Zhao Mi gave Zhao Yun a light push and said, "Don't think I can't learn! I wouldn't have come if I wasn't strong enough to protect myself here. Ask Xu Huang how much stronger I have become!"

Zhao Yun yawned and said, "Yeah, yeah. . .I'll fight with you later after this battle, Zhao Mi."

She smiled and said, "I'll beat you!"

Zhao Yun couldn't believe his sister who was 14-years old was riding with him to battle. He had always helped her out when they were younger and he only saw her as the helpless little girl he loved dearly. She did all her heart to become the best sister for Zhao Yun and was doing very well. When Zhao Yun was young, there were some big boys Zhao Yun and his friends couldn't win. But then, Zhao Mi made a plan and using the plan, Zhao Yun and his friends beat up the big boys up pretty well.

Thinking of these memories brought a smile to Zhao Yun's face. But the smile disappeared as he saw the castle of Nak Yang. There was smoke coming from the castle. Zhao Yun suddenly ran faster than ever with his Red Hare and rode towards the castle wall. Then he stood up on his steed and jumped as high as he could towards the castle wall. He got about halfway and using his spear as something to hold on to, he moved up stone by stone. Then he got to the top to see a burning ritual. There were two people tied up from head to toe. It was Zhang He and Sung Mina, no doubt. Dong Zhou came up to the soldiers and peasant. Then he said, "Six hours ago, these two filthy pieces of trash came in to this castle, thinking they would be okay to go around with my Lu Bu here. So let this be a lesson to you all, anyone who tried to attack me or bother me in any sort of way, Lu Bu will make sure to make your necks fly out from your bodies.

There was a wave of a cold shudder as Dong Zhou's words echoed across the castle. Dong Zhou's big body towered over the soldiers and peasants around. Then with his big face smiling disgustingly, he said, "Burn them." As if Zhao Yun had been waiting for this word, Zhao Yun jumped down from the castle walls, reading himself to fighting position.


End file.
